THE 2010 CENSUS COMMUNICATION CONTRACT:

THE MEDIA PLAN IN HARD TO COUNT AREAS

HEARING

BEFORE THE

SUBCOMMITTEE ON INFORMATION POLICY,

CENSUS, AND NATIONAL ARCHIVES

OF THE

COMMITTEE ON OVERSIGHT

AND GOVERNMENT REFORM

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

ONE HUNDRED ELEVENTH CONGRESS

SECOND SESSION

FEBRUARY 24, 2010

Serial No. 111–83

Printed for the use of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform

(

Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.gpoaccess.gov/congress/index.html

http://www.oversight.house.gov

THE 2010 CENSUS COMMUNICATION CONTRACT: THE MEDIA PLAN IN HARD TO COUNT

AREAS

U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE

WASHINGTON : 

For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office

Internet: bookstore.gpo.gov Phone: toll free (866) 512–1800; DC area (202) 512–1800

Fax: (202) 512–2104 Mail: Stop IDCC, Washington, DC 20402–0001

61–800 PDF 2010

THE 2010 CENSUS COMMUNICATION CONTRACT:

THE MEDIA PLAN IN HARD TO COUNT AREAS

HEARING

BEFORE THE

SUBCOMMITTEE ON INFORMATION POLICY,

CENSUS, AND NATIONAL ARCHIVES

OF THE

COMMITTEE ON OVERSIGHT

AND GOVERNMENT REFORM

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

ONE HUNDRED ELEVENTH CONGRESS

SECOND SESSION

FEBRUARY 24, 2010

Serial No. 111–83

Printed for the use of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform

(

Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.gpoaccess.gov/congress/index.html

http://www.oversight.house.gov

(II)

COMMITTEE ON OVERSIGHT AND GOVERNMENT REFORM

EDOLPHUS TOWNS, New York, Chairman

PAUL E. KANJORSKI, Pennsylvania

CAROLYN B. MALONEY, New York

ELIJAH E. CUMMINGS, Maryland

DENNIS J. KUCINICH, Ohio

JOHN F. TIERNEY, Massachusetts

WM. LACY CLAY, Missouri

DIANE E. WATSON, California

STEPHEN F. LYNCH, Massachusetts

JIM COOPER, Tennessee

GERALD E. CONNOLLY, Virginia

MIKE QUIGLEY, Illinois

MARCY KAPTUR, Ohio

ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON, District of

Columbia

PATRICK J. KENNEDY, Rhode Island

DANNY K. DAVIS, Illinois

CHRIS VAN HOLLEN, Maryland

HENRY CUELLAR, Texas

PAUL W. HODES, New Hampshire

CHRISTOPHER S. MURPHY, Connecticut

PETER WELCH, Vermont

BILL FOSTER, Illinois

JACKIE SPEIER, California

STEVE DRIEHAUS, Ohio

JUDY CHU, California

DARRELL E. ISSA, California

DAN BURTON, Indiana

JOHN L. MICA, Florida

MARK E. SOUDER, Indiana

JOHN J. DUNCAN, JR., Tennessee

MICHAEL R. TURNER, Ohio

LYNN A. WESTMORELAND, Georgia

PATRICK T. MCHENRY, North Carolina

BRIAN P. BILBRAY, California

JIM JORDAN, Ohio

JEFF FLAKE, Arizona

JEFF FORTENBERRY, Nebraska

JASON CHAFFETZ, Utah

AARON SCHOCK, Illinois

BLAINE LUETKEMEYER, Missouri

ANH ‘‘JOSEPH’’ CAO, Louisiana

RON STROMAN, Staff Director

MICHAEL MCCARTHY, Deputy Staff Director

CARLA HULTBERG, Chief Clerk

LARRY BRADY, Minority Staff Director

SUBCOMMITTEE ON INFORMATION POLICY, CENSUS, AND NATIONAL ARCHIVES

WM. LACY CLAY, Missouri, Chairman

CAROLYN B. MALONEY, New York

ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON, District of

Columbia

DANNY K. DAVIS, Illinois

STEVE DRIEHAUS, Ohio

DIANE E. WATSON, California

HENRY CUELLAR, Texas

PATRICK T. MCHENRY, North Carolina

LYNN A. WESTMORELAND, Georgia

JOHN L. MICA, Florida

JASON CHAFFETZ, Utah

DARRYL PIGGEE, Staff Director

(III)

C O N T E N T S

Page

Hearing held on February 24, 2010 ....................................................................... 1

Statement of:

Bakewell, Danny, chairman, National Newspaper Publishers Association;

James L. Winston, executive director, National Association of Black

Owned Broadcasters; and 1Sandy Close, executive director, New America Media ....................................................................................................... 374

Bakewell, Danny ....................................................................................... 374

Close, Sandy .............................................................................................. 388

Winston, James L. ..................................................................................... 382

Groves, Robert, Director, U.S. Census Bureau; Jeff Tarakajian, executive

vice president, DraftFCB; Robbyn Ennis, senior associate media director, Globalhue; and Nelson Garcia, Sr., vice president/media director,

Globalhuelatino ............................................................................................. 13

Ennis, Robbyn ............................................................................................ 143

Garcia, Nelson ........................................................................................... 133

Groves, Robert ........................................................................................... 13

Tarakajian, Jeff ......................................................................................... 24

Narasaki, Karen, executive director, Asian American Justice Center;

Arturo Vargas, executive director, National Association of Latino Elected Officials; Helen Hatab Samhan, executive director, Arab American

Institute Foundation; and Linda Smith, executive director, National

Association of American Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies ..... 293

Narasaki, Karen ........................................................................................ 293

Samhan, Helen Hatab ............................................................................... 341

Smith, Linda .............................................................................................. 361

Vargas, Arturo ........................................................................................... 316

Letters, statements, etc., submitted for the record by:

Bakewell, Danny, chairman, National Newspaper Publishers Association,

prepared statement of ................................................................................... 378

Chaffetz, Hon. Jason, a Representative in Congress from the State of

Utah:

Information concerning the adjudication process ................................... 279

Letter dated May 14, 2010 ....................................................................... 284

Summary of the 2010 address canvassing cost analysis ........................ 162

Clay, Hon. Wm. Lacy, a Representative in Congress from the State of

Missouri, prepared statement of .................................................................. 3

Close, Sandy, executive director, New America Media, prepared statement of ........................................................................................................... 390

Cuellar, Hon. Henry, a Representative in Congress from the State of

Texas:

DraftFCB subcontractor obligations to date ........................................... 216

Letter dated May 14, 2010 ....................................................................... 165

Ennis, Robbyn, senior associate media director, Globalhue, prepared

statement of ................................................................................................... 145

Garcia, Nelson, Sr., vice president/media director, Globalhuelatino, prepared statement of ........................................................................................ 135

Groves, Robert, Director, U.S. Census Bureau, prepared statement of ....... 15

Jackson Lee, Hon. Sheila, a Representative in Congress from the State

of Texas:

Black audience media buy schedule: print and radio ............................. 224

Letter dated January 13, 2010 ................................................................. 400

Letter dated January 15, 2010 ................................................................. 403

Letter dated March 9, 2010 ...................................................................... 219

Letter dated May 14, 2010 ....................................................................... 174

Page

IV

Letters, statements, etc., submitted for the record by—Continued

Jackson Lee, Hon. Sheila, a Representative in Congress from the State

of Texas—Continued

List of local Black newspapers receiveing 2010 census advertisement 406

Prepared statement of ............................................................................... 181

Johnson, Hon. Henry C. ‘‘Hank,’’ Jr., a Representative in Congress from

the State of Georgia, prepared statement of .............................................. 373

McHenry, Hon. Patrick T., a Representative in Congress from the State

of North Carolina, prepared statement of ................................................... 9

Narasaki, Karen, executive director, Asian American Justice Center, prepared statement of ........................................................................................ 295

Samhan, Helen Hatab, executive director, Arab American Institute Foundation, prepared statement of ...................................................................... 343

Smith, Linda, executive director, National Association of American Child

Care Resource and Referral Agencies, prepared statement of .................. 363

Tarakajian, Jeff, executive vice president, DraftFCB, prepared statement

of ..................................................................................................................... 26

Vargas, Arturo, executive director, National Association of Latino Elected

Officials, prepared statement of .................................................................. 318

Waters, Hon. Maxine, a Representative in Congress from the State of

California:

Letter dated May 14, 2010 ....................................................................... 155

DraftFCB subcontractor obligations to date ........................................... 193

Winston, James L., executive director, National Association of Black

Owned Broadcasters, prepared statement of .............................................. 384

(1)

THE 2010 CENSUS COMMUNICATION CONTRACT: THE MEDIA PLAN IN HARD TO

COUNT AREAS

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 2010

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,

SUBCOMMITTEE ON INFORMATION POLICY, CENSUS, AND

NATIONAL ARCHIVES,

COMMITTEE ON OVERSIGHT AND GOVERNMENT REFORM,

Washington, DC.

The subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 7:12 p.m., in room

2154, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Wm. Lacy Clay (chairman of the subcommittee) presiding.

Present: Representatives Clay, Cuellar, and Chaffetz.

Also present: Representatives Waters and Jackson Lee.

Staff present: Darryl Piggee, staff director/counsel; Jean Gosa,

clerk; Yvette Cravins, counsel; Frank Davis and Anthony Clark,

professional staff members; Charisma Williams, staff assistant;

Leneal Scott, IT specialist—full committee; Jim Hayes, minority

professional staff member; and Adam Fromm, minority chief clerk

and Member liaison.

Mr. CLAY. The subcommittee will come to order.

Good evening and welcome to tonight’s hearing entitled, ‘‘The

2010 Census Communication Contract: The Media Plan in Hard to

Count Areas.’’

Today’s hearing, as the title indicates, will examine the 2010

Census Integrated Communications Campaign in hard-to-count

areas. The hearing will assess and examine ethnic print and broadcast media’s role in preventing an undercount. We will further examine avenues to aid the Census Bureau in its efforts to reach

those who are more likely to be undercounted—children, minorities, and renters.

We have with us today a distinguished colleague, Representative

Maxine Waters of California who has asked to participate in this

hearing. I want to welcome her and express my appreciation for

her attendance, and I ask unanimous consent that she be allowed

to participate.

Thank you.

Without objection, the chairman and the ranking minority member will have 5 minutes to make opening statements, followed by

opening statements not to exceed 3 minutes by any Member who

wishes to make one.

2

Without objection, Members and witnesses may have 5 legislative days in which to submit a written statement or extraneous materials for the record.

The purpose of today’s hearing is to examine the Census Communications Campaign in hard-to-count areas. An unprecedented

amount of Federal dollars has been expended toward the constitutionally mandate exercise of counting our Nation’s population. We

have the funding necessary to carry out this endeavor. However,

we must assess and ensure the best placement and use of our taxpayer dollars.

Let me state again, these are taxpayer dollars. We cannot forget

that. So we must, through our oversight, ensure that the taxpayer

receives their money’s worth. Advertising dollars must be contributed to specific mediums to best touch our Nation’s hardest to

count population. I salute Dr. Groves for his efforts and hope this

hearing brings forth great ideas and input from all who care so

deeply about this issue.

On our first panel we will hear from Dr. Groves and the Census

government contractors who will testify about the Census campaign, including the media strategy, development, and placement of

advertising dollars.

Our second panel includes leaders of some of the largest civic

and professional organizations dedicated to minority participation,

education, and equality. These witnesses have been instrumental

in spreading the message of Census and will testify regarding their

experiences and concerns. This panel is acutely aware of the challenges of enumerating the hard-to-count population.

Our last panel consists of not only media experts in ethnic broadcasting but also those whose endeavors focus on our most hard-tocount population, our Nation’s children. These witnesses serve as

the active, trusted voices in many of the hard-to-count communities. This panel will offer recommendations they believe will improve the effectiveness of the media campaign going forward.

Census day is a mere 5 weeks away, so let’s work together and

exchange ideas to ensure an accurate count.

I thank all of the witnesses for appearing and look forward to

your testimony.

[The prepared statement of Hon. Wm. Lacy Clay follows:]

3

4

5

6

7

8

Mr. CLAY. I now yield to the distinguished ranking member 5

minutes.

Mr. CHAFFETZ. Thank you, Mr. Chairman; and I thank you all

for being here this late and unpredictable hour. I appreciate your

patience and understanding.

Mr. Chairman, I ask unanimous consent to submit the statement

of Ranking Member Patrick McHenry, who was detained and who

could not be here.

Mr. CLAY. Without objection.

Mr. CHAFFETZ. Thank you.

[The prepared statement of Hon. Patrick T. McHenry follows:]

9

10

11

Mr. CHAFFETZ. I do want to talk about the details of what is happening and not happening within the advertising. This comes

around once every 10 years, and I recognize the short amount of

time that we have until the execution, and we need the maximum

participation from the American people. We want to encourage everybody to participate in every way, shape, or form and recognize

the difficulties in trying to get the hard to reach and hard-to-count

populations.

Obviously, on both sides of the aisle, we want to make sure that

everyone is counted. It is a very difficult task, to say the least. As

the chairman said, we are using taxpayer dollars and so we want

to ensure that those are being maximized and we are getting the

maximum results.

I, for one, am terribly disappointed in the Census, in their inability and unwillingness to cooperate in giving us details that we have

asked for repeatedly. I hold Director Groves personally accountable

for his unresponsiveness in a repeated nature. I think it is terribly

disrespectful and unacceptable.

When I have asked repeatedly for information, you have repeatedly refused to give it to us. I am a Member of the U.S. Congress.

You have a duty and an obligation to perform your duties and provide this Congress and this committee details that we ask for.

Sir, I find your actions reprehensible. I will continue to grill you

as long as it takes, and the organization, to provide the information

that I think the American people should have; and I hope at some

point there is some sort of attitude adjustment in providing the information that I think the American people should have.

I don’t think that we can continue on like this. It is a late hour.

The Olympics are on, and there is a lot happening. I promise you

we will continue to pursue this information well into the future and

hope at some point you give us a genuine answer and provide genuine information, as you promised in the last hearing I was in with

you, because I think the information and the promises you gave me

personally in this committee were not followed up.

That is my personal perspective. You may have a different one.

I respect that. But I assure you we will continue at this until we

get the information we have asked for.

Further, I believe we need to look at the results of the advertising campaign and the direction that it is going. I hope you understand and respect that we are not here to just pat you on the back,

that we are here to ask you difficult questions, and I have some

serious questions about what we are doing and not doing in that

regard.

Following up long term, I do have questions about the American

Community Survey, the questions that are asked, how that is executed, the money that we have spent on it. We won’t have time in

this hearing, but I would like to followup with the appropriate

panel members, Mr. Chairman, as we move forward on that in the

future.

I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. CLAY. We will maintain order and decorum in this hearing;

and, Mr. Chaffetz, we will maintain a tone here that is civil.

I now recognize the gentlewoman from California, if she has an

opening statement.

12

Ms. WATERS. Thank you, very much Mr. Chairman. I am very

appreciative for your allowing me to participate in this hearing

today.

I know that you have been working very, very hard and you have

been keeping many of us informed about what is going on with the

Census Bureau and the Census count that is being attempted, but

I am increasingly concerned about much of the information that I

am getting. Some of it has come from the Black newspapers, Black

radio stations, some of the information that has come from minority organizations, period.

It appears that our message of the undercount is not being respected. The fact of the matter is, every 10 years we learn about

the undercount, and you would think that the undercount communities would be targeted with the necessary resources to reverse

that and to get a better count. But it does not appear to be happening.

I am concerned about the way in which conclusions are reached

about how to reach minority populations. There is a lot of speculation about what is and what is not proper and appropriate and effective in reaching minority populations.

I have not heard any information about how these conclusions

were reached, whether or not there were the kind of focus groups

that represented these populations. I have not seen the research.

I have not seen the data that supposedly represents these communities, and the money does not appear to match the need. And so

I am here today to learn what is going on. I think we may have

some additional work to do.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. I yield back the balance

of my time.

Mr. CLAY. Thank you so much, Ms. Waters; and perhaps we will

get some of the answers to your questions this evening. You raised

legitimate concerns, and we certainly want to have yours and Representative Chaffetz’s questions answered.

So let’s start by introducing the panel.

We will hear first from Dr. Robert Groves. President Obama

nominated Dr. Groves as Director of the Census Bureau, and Dr.

Groves began his tenure on July 15, 2009. Dr. Groves is well qualified for the position that he holds as Director of the Census Bureau.

Testimony on this panel will also come from DRAFTFCB, Mr.

Jeff Tarakajian, and subcontractors GlobalHue and

GlobalHueLatino, represented by Robbyn Ennis and Mr. Nelson

Garcia.

Jeff Tarakajian is executive vice president of DRAFTFCB, the

prime contractor of the 2010 Census Integrated Communications

Campaign.

Ms. Robbyn Ennis is the media director at GlobalHue, a Blackowned, full service advertising agency. Ms. Ennis is an experienced

advertising professional with 12-plus years of media planning and

buying experience. Ms. Ennis manages overall media planning and

buying operations of GlobalHue.

Mr. Nelson Garcia is the senior vice president/media director at

GlobalHueLatino. Mr. Garcia is a 30-year advertising industry veteran. Mr. Garcia has held multicultural media management posiVerDate 11-MAY-2000 15:42 Nov 10, 2010 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00020 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 U:\DOCS\61800.TXT KATIE PsN: KATIE
13

tions at top mainstream and leading specialty multicultural advertising agencies.

Thank you all for appearing before the subcommittee this

evening. It is the policy of the committee to swear in the panel.

[Witnesses sworn.]

Mr. CLAY. Let the record reflect that the witnesses have answered in the affirmative.

Each of you will have 5 minutes to make an opening statement.

Your complete written testimony will be included in the hearing

record. Of course, you know the lighting system in front of you.

Dr. Groves, you may proceed with your opening statement.

STATEMENTS OF ROBERT GROVES, DIRECTOR, U.S. CENSUS

BUREAU; JEFF TARAKAJIAN, EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT,

DRAFTFCB; ROBBYN ENNIS, SENIOR ASSOCIATE MEDIA DIRECTOR, GLOBALHUE; AND NELSON GARCIA, SR. VICE

PRESIDENT/MEDIA DIRECTOR, GLOBALHUELATINO

STATEMENT OF ROBERT GROVES

Dr. GROVES. Chairman Clay, Ranking Member Chaffetz and

other members of the subcommittee, I am happy to be here to testify on the 2010 Census Communications Campaign. I personally

am confident that the campaign is a sound design, the messaging

is clear, and that our contractors, with the guidance of my colleagues at the Census Bureau, are purchasing media that will

reach hard-to-count populations and motivate them to respond to

the Census.

Consistent with the statistical mission of the Census Bureau, the

campaign was designed based on statistical data. Let me tell you

a bit about how we did this.

The staff first assembled rates of response to the 2000 census

way down at the Census track level and also undercount estimates

for key socio-demographic groups. Groups with low participation

rates were identified for disproportionate focus.

Then the contractor identified media outlets that reached those

different groups, focusing when appropriate on in-language media.

It was clear from this that more funds should be spent locally than

nationally, and that is true in contrast to the 2000 media buys.

Then the media buys were directed by the nature of the need for

a given audience. By that, we mean whether print media were chosen, radio media, TV, or digital media.

The campaign is designed in three phases. There is an awareness

phase that is going on right now through mid-March. The second

is a motivation phase that runs mid-March through mid April. And

the third is a nonresponse followup stage that is designed to ensure

or encourage the population to cooperate with Census takers who

visit their homes to followup those households who did not send in

their Census form.

The mass advertising part of this campaign will target the

English-speaking audiences, and additional specific advertising will

be geared toward a range of diverse audiences, including hard-tocount populations. The mass campaign is designed to reach the almost 85 percent of the residents who consume paid media and who

speak English only. However, it is also going to reach other ethnic

14

and language audiences, especially the Black audience to the extent that they are consumers of those same media outlets and diverse mass.

Each of the targeted audience plans—Black, Hispanic, Asian,

etc.—has been designed to penetrate the individual markets sufficiently to achieve our campaign goals. The research behind the

campaign focused on understanding the societal factors that help

contribute to low response rates in the 2000 series. Among the key

indicators are the rates of public assistance in the area, unemployment rates, homeownership versus renting, and linguistic isolation.

This research, along with commercial market research from

Arbitron, Neilsen and Simmons gave us the guidance to guide the

media buys.

Then our contractors entered into negotiations for the media

buys for national and local outlets. They followed industry practices

which seek added value from the outlets beyond the price of the

placements sought by an advertiser.

An example of this for the 2010 campaign is additional broadcast

spots provided for free, celebrity endorsements or mentions of the

Census in programming or through public service announcements. As of late January, the Census team had negotiated almost $30

million in added value for media outlets. When all is said and done,

we expect that to represent about 25 percent when finalized after

nonresponse followup.

I have focused on the media plan. However, I think it is important to understand that this is only one component of our outreach

and promotion strategy. Advertising can increase awareness, but it

takes trusted voices to persuade people to participate in the Census. I am happy to report that we have now over 200,000 partner

organizations around the country that have volunteered to help us

get the word out to their constituencies, and I know with the help

of this committee and other Members of Congress that we will get

other voices out saying the same message.

Mr. Chairman, I am aware that some Members of Congress have

received letters from local media outlets in their districts questioning the fairness of the amount of money spent. I can honestly say

that the program was set up in an objective manner, guided by

data on what audiences needed given their historical behavior. Not

all media outlets will receive contracts, but I am confident that the

messages needed for the different audiences are being delivered.

We acknowledge that no plan is perfect, and we have held back

money of the total amount to react to response rates as they

emerge in the last weeks of March and the early weeks of April.

That held-back money will be targeted through new media purchases to the areas that are returning the questionnaire at lower

than expected rates.

Thank you for your time today, Mr. Chairman. I look forward to

your questions.

[The prepared statement of Dr. Groves follows:]

15

16

17

18

19

20

21

22

23

24

Mr. CLAY. Thank you, Dr. Groves.

Mr. Tarakajian, you may proceed with your opening statement.

STATEMENT OF JEFF TARAKAJIAN

Mr. TARAKAJIAN. Mr. Chairman, members of the subcommittee,

the entire Team Census 2010 thanks you for the opportunity to be

here today and talk to you about the Integrated Communications

Campaign. Today’s topic, the 2010 Census Communications Contract: The Media Plan in Hard to Count Areas, is our focus for

today. Joining me are members of the team who are experts on the

planning and execution of the media effort for key multicultural

audiences, including hard-to-count areas. Julia Chen from the IW

group is here, along with Bob Smith from DRAFTFCB.

As I have stated in previous testimony, the communication strategies and the budget allocation decisions that we have made have

consistently placed greater emphasis on reaching and motivating

hard-to-count audiences. The budget allocations are disproportionately greater to hard-to-count audiences relative to their population

size, and more emphasis is being placed on hard-to-count audiences

than in the 2000 census.

By way of example, 53 percent of the dollars will go toward what

we call in-culture, in-language advertising, as compared with 46

percent in 2000.

The campaign this time will exist in 11 more languages. That is

28 languages versus 17 in 2000. And with a more diverse population than ever, the campaign has been very careful to ensure that

as many linguistically isolated populations as possible are covered

with in-language communications.

Each multicultural audience segment that had advertising in

2000 will have a minimum increase of 35 percent in spending in

2010 over the 2000 levels.

Importantly, the campaign reaches out to hard-to-count audiences beyond multicultural populations. For example, there is a

sponsorship with NASCAR and advertising in NASCAR programming that reaches the important rural audience, a large portion of

which is hard to count.

There will be $6 million spent in online advertising which is targeted to single, unattached mobiles, an audience identified by the

Census Bureau as hard to count.

The campaign also is more locally driven in 2010 than it was in

2000, with 47 percent of the dollars spent on local media versus 34

percent in 2000.

In addition, the national media buys are seen in all local markets

through local broadcast affiliates and national print vehicles that

are distributed locally. So that means that every market will receive at least 25,000 television ads and over 6,000 radio ads, and

many markets will receive much more as a result of the incremental emphasis placed on hard-to-count audiences locally.

An unprecedented outreach has been completed to make accessible the opportunity for all media properties to participate in the

2010 media buy. Over 2,500 RFPs have been issued that cover

61,000 media outlets. We don’t know of a campaign that has made

this kind of outreach in the history of our business. Yet we know

25

that media have complained that they didn’t get business, and we

regret that this has happened.

Media buys today have now been completed for the awareness

and motivation phases of the campaign. Still to be purchased are

media for nonresponse followup and, as Dr. Groves said, for the deployment of rapid response reserve funds. So there is at this point

some flexibility remaining to address unforeseen events, to fill gaps

that stakeholders believe need to be filled, and to make any adjustments based on campaign tracking results.

So far those results, as of the middle of February, show that

awareness of Census advertising is already at 72 percent; and that

compares very favorably with 27 percent, which was the number

before ads began. The number is 77 percent for English-speaking

Blacks and 70 percent for English-speaking Hispanics, compared to

the overall number of 72. And intent to participate is also strong

at 87 percent overall, 88 percent for Blacks and 85 percent for Hispanics; and this number continues to increase as we look at the

numbers going forward.

I would be happy to answer any questions that you have. Thank

you.

[The prepared statement of Mr. Tarakajian follows:]

26

27

28

29

30

31

32

33

34

35

36

37

38

39

40

41

42

43

44

45

46

47

48

49

50

51

52

53

54

55

56

57

58

59

60

61

62

63

64

65

66

67

68

69

70

71

72

73

74

75

76

77

78

79

80

81

82

83

84

85

86

87

88

89

90

91

92

93

94

95

96

97

98

99

100

101

102

103

104

105

106

107

108

109

110

111

112

113

114

115

116

117

118

119

120

121

122

123

124

125

126

127

128

129

130

131

132

133

Mr. CLAY. Thank you very much, Mr. Tarakajian.

Mr. Garcia, you may proceed.

STATEMENT OF NELSON GARCIA

Mr. GARCIA. Thank you, Mr. Chairman and the committee, for

inviting me.

As with all of the other ethnic and racial segments, the goal of

the Hispanic audience plan was as follows: to improve mail response, to improve overall accuracy, to reduce the differential

undercount, and to improve cooperation with enumerators.

To meet all of these goals required more than just hard-working

media dollars in relevant environments. It required a fully integrated campaign and a coordination of multiple efforts by partner

agencies that included paid media, partnerships, public relations,

Census in schools, and earned media outreach.

The goal of paid media is to educate all Hispanic Americans in

all 50 States, regardless of their residency status, as to the benefits

of civic participation and to drive mass participation through the

most relevant and influential forms of communication.

The plan used research from a wide variety of sources. Qualitative and quantitative learning came from focus groups. Demographic, psychographic, and life-style learning taken from two Census-sponsored research studies. The first was a base segmentation

study of the Hispanic population, and the second was a mind-set

study of Hispanics as it pertains to their perceptions of the Census.

From the first study, we were able to segment the Hispanic population to eight distinct target clusters. From the second study, we

were able to understand media and messaging needs. This research

was based and complemented with extensive use of authoritative

secondary sources, which ranged from industry studies to the ACS

to information from census.gov.

In the discovery process, it was determined that 42.5 percent of

the Hispanic community fell into hard-to-count clusters known as

Ethnic Enclaves I and II and Economically Disadvantaged II. Another key finding found that 20 percent of the Ethnic Enclave clusters were Hispanic. Therefore, these three clusters’ media habits

were further examined and led to our recommendation.

So our recommendation was first based on knowing that almost

half the marketplace was hard to count and their media habits. We

used syndicated research sponsored by the Census Bureau. These

findings, plus the Census mail response rate, guided our development of a hybrid plan, one that put a greater emphasis on local

media. Sixty percent of paid media investment will be spent on

local, radio, newspaper, out of home, and really hyper local media,

such as public transit, lunch trucks, retail post bills, wire transfer,

check cashier locations, ethnic restaurant menus, and also prepaid

calling cards. There is a lot of media which is media used by immigrant communities, Spanish-dominant communities, and recently

arrived communities.

To reach the most recently arrived and linguistically isolated, the

plan is weighed toward trusted in-language medium. We have 99

newspaper markets. We have 38 radio markets. We have 11 outof-home markets and 18 local news markets.

134

A special effort was made to be in media consumed by migrant

workers and rural Hispanics. In fact, a special purchase was made

with the United Farm Workers Radio Network, one of the group’s

most influential and trusted news sources. Ninety-seven percent of

all DMAs have paid Census Spanish TV advertising and PSAs from

trusted personalities, since 80 percent of Univision, Telemundo,

TeleFutura, and Tedesteca’s programming is common to all markets.

In 18 local markets, an extra layer of support came by way of

paid purchases on local news and local programings. These markets were selected based on the fact that they had critical mass,

at least 100,000 people; the fact that at least 10 percent of the population was Hispanic; that their hard-to-count scores were above

the national average; and that the mail return rate was below the

national average.

We looked at an 8-year growth rate above the national average,

and we also looked to hyper-growth markets in the Pacific Northwest, the Midwest, and the Southwest; and this resulted in a media

plan that was very locally oriented.

It was the most democratic RFP process possible. We sent out

RFPs to 1,053 individual media companies, which yielded close to

21,000 points of contact with the individual Hispanic media. We

have placed $25.4 million in media so far and have yielded $7.5

million back in added value return where 30 percent were increased because of the generosity of our partners. And we involved

America’s top Hispanic talent, everyone from Maria Marin, Piolin,

Cristina, Don Francisco, all of the key names, all of the people that

matter and influence this community.

Thank you.

[The prepared statement of Mr. Garcia follows:]

135

136

137

138

139

140

141

142

143

Mr. CLAY. Thank you, Mr. Garcia.

Ms. Ennis, you are recognized for 5 minutes.

STATEMENT OF ROBBYN ENNIS

Ms. ENNIS. Mr. Chairman, Members of Congress and Team Census 2010, I would like to thank you for the opportunity to talk

about the 2010 census Integrated Communications Campaign specifically as it relates to the paid media and the Black audience segment.

The three key objectives for the Integrated Communications

Campaign for the Black audience are to increase mail response, improve accuracy and reduce the differential undercount, and, last,

improve cooperation with enumerators. All of these goals were targeted to the Black audience segment, which is inclusive of African

Americans, Caribbean Americans, Haitian Americans, and Black

Africans. In order to assist in meeting these goals, an integrated

paid media plan has been developed based on the media habits and

behaviors of these particular audiences.

During our media planning process, as well as buying, we utilized proprietary research, third-party research as well as proprietary research, CBAMS and cluster data, to develop media plans.

Utilizing Census and industry research, quantitative and qualitative data allowed us to develop the most efficient and effective

media mix against the Black audience segment and specifically the

hard-to-count audiences within the segment.

Part of unearthing the data included analysis of what clusters

and categories the Black audience represented or skewed heaviest.

We found that one-third of Black households fell into Economically

Disadvantaged I and II, and they comprise nearly half of the

households in each of those two clusters, 44 percent and 48 percent

respectively.

The third hardest to count cluster was single unmatched mobiles,

which were 11 percent of Blacks and 16 percent of Blacks within

that particular cluster.

After reviewing the media consumption of these three clusters,

special consideration was made to skew strategies and media efforts to those audiences which are typically unlikely to respond.

The CBAMS research was utilized to provide additional media

strategy enhancement, particularly with our hard-to-count segments.

One of the key takeaways from the research was that, although

there was somewhat of an awareness of the Census, the belief that

it will make a difference in our own communities is relatively low.

In this case, GlobalHue’s recommendation across all segments was

to skew choices not only toward trusted targeted media but to hone

in on trusted voices that the audience is familiar with, believes,

and that will create awareness and more willingness to participate.

Some of the talent secured to reach hard-to-count audiences include but are not limited to R&B artist Monica, national syndicated

radio host Steve Harvey, Michael Baisden, gospel artist Yolanda

Adams, April Ryan, Marvin Sapp, Ludacris, Ce-Ce Winans, Rico

DuPont, Joan Savoury, Dikembe Mutombo, and Terrence and Rocsi

of 106 and Park.

144

Research guided all media choices down to the time tactical level

of the specific media outlets that were used. What resulted was a

plan that had a greater emphasis on local media. Fifty-five percent

of the total allocated budget went to local media.

National media support provides the most efficient way to reach

the masses of Black adults. Targeted efforts were also utilized and

partners such as BET, TV One, Radio One, and AURN provided

significant added value in the form of free PSAs, mentions, use of

talent, media integrations, vignettes, and multiple no-charge spots.

This coverage has been essential to the overall media plan.

Utilizing local media is a key strategy of the Black audience plan

and is equally as important as national media. We utilized the following information to prioritize local markets: population size, historical response data, prevalence of hard-to-count households within the market, availability of media in each market, as well as local

media studies and regional director and advisory committee feedback. A matrix was created and markets were prioritized, which resulted in a total of 31 markets where we would focus our local dollars and effort. We have since extended the market list based on

the same criteria to support additional markets, now a total of 60

plus, with targeted Black media efforts.

Over 500 RFPs were distributed, representing 22,000 media

properties. Two minority subcontractors were secured, Voices, Inc.

and NNPA, to negotiate and place the local targeted media buys.

Once RFPs were distributed, proposals were reviewed based on

the specific criteria and media selections were made. Some criteria

included vehicles effectiveness in reaching the target audience,

reach of the media vehicle, content environments that are conducive to the Census message, cost efficiency, minority ownership,

and added value programs that would enhance the campaign’s message.

Overall, this plan was designed to effectively and efficiently

reach the Black audience segment and specifically deliver the hard

to count. The messaging will reach 95 percent plus Blacks covering

every market in the country.

[The prepared statement of Ms. Ennis follows:]

145

146

147

148

149

150

151

152

153

Mr. CLAY. Thank you so much for all of your testimony.

We will digress from the normal questioning order, and I will

recognize Representative Waters to start us off.

Representative Waters, 5 minutes.

Ms. WATERS. Thank you very much.

There are a number of questions that I have, Mr. Chairman, but,

first of all, let me ask, in dealing with the Black media, Black

newspapers, and the references that you have made to public service announcements and basically free media, has there been some

attempt to say to Black newspapers, for example, that we will

spend X amount of dollars with you based on how much free space

you give us? Has there been a demand to say you’ve got to run X

number of items for us in order for you to get us to pay you for

a certain amount of advertising? Did this or did this not happen?

Ms. Ennis, do you want to respond to that?

Ms. ENNIS. I can definitely respond to that.

Per the written recommendation of the NNPA——

Mr. CLAY. I will have to ask the audience to not interfere with

the testimony or the questioning. Please observe the decorum of

the committee. If you are a witness, you will have an opportunity

to respond. Thank you.

Ms. ENNIS. Let me start over.

Per the written recommendation of the NNPA, the papers were

asked to volunteer to include or write any positive articles or editorial about the census 2010 as an added value submission. Any

papers that did not want to take part in submitting or writing articles or submitting editorials were asked to provide another alternative of added value to our agency.

Because of the importance of the Census to each of our communities, we were told that would potentially be an easy task. We

have received other added value requests from the papers that did

not agree to that particular term, and we are completely fine with

that.

Ms. WATERS. Was this asked of White papers? Were White papers asked for this added value as an exchange for getting paid advertisement?

Ms. ENNIS. The added value is not asked as an exchange for paid

advertising.

Ms. WATERS. Was it asked of the White newspapers at all?

Mr. TARAKAJIAN. May I answer that?

Ms. WATERS. Sure. She gave us a specific answer to how this

came about asking for free media, and I want to know what the

connection is to paid media and how was it presented. And it was

presented to Black newspapers, wherever the recommendation

came from. Was it presented to any other newspapers, White newspapers, or just minority newspapers, Latino, Black, what have you?

Mr. TARAKAJIAN. The request for added value is a very standard

way of operating.

Ms. WATERS. But I didn’t ask about standard. I asked what did

you do. I want to know what the Census did, what the Census

project did. Of course, it may be a standard way of doing business,

but I want to know what did Team Census 2010 do? Did you do

this for all newspapers?

Mr. TARAKAJIAN. For the Census contract——

154

Ms. WATERS. Don’t nuance it for me. You either did it or you

didn’t. Did you do it?

Mr. TARAKAJIAN. For the Census contract, we asked for additional added value for all of the media buys that we make. It is

not a condition of running media. It is, as I said——

Ms. WATERS. Was this done in writing or was this a verbal request?

Mr. TARAKAJIAN. Under oath, I can’t tell you 100 percent what

was done in writing and what was done verbally.

Ms. WATERS. Under oath, you probably can’t tell me whether it

was done at all.

Mr. TARAKAJIAN. No, I can tell you that the request for added

value——

Ms. WATERS. Who did the request and how was it done? Ask one

of your people with you. Somebody must know.

Mr. TARAKAJIAN. When we do our media buys and specifically as

it relates to newspapers, which is your question, we, like Ms. Ennis

is talking about, work with a rep firm who would represent a variety of different newspapers. Many of the rep firms will recommend

ideas for added value. Again, those are ideas that they put on the

table. We seek them. We encourage them. But we do not make the

requirement that somebody provide added value to literally qualify

for a media buy.

Ms. WATERS. OK, we are going to dispense with this because I

think you just told me what I wanted to know.

First of all, your reps are the ones who are the ones who are negotiating this added value, and you don’t really know what they

are saying. You don’t have any way of knowing whether or not they

are saying this is in exchange for paid media. You would hope that

they are not doing that, but you don’t know whether or not they

are doing it because you are not doing it yourself. Your reps are

doing it, correct?

Ms. ENNIS. If it is all right if I answer that question, what happens is we work directly with our subcontractors and reps. So we

approve all paperwork.

Ms. WATERS. This is in writing? You have this request in writing,

the added value?

Ms. ENNIS. Yes.

Ms. WATERS. Mr. Chairman, may I ask that it be submitted to

your subcommittee, to you, so we can examine exactly what was

placed in writing?

And, Mr. Chairman, will you have them indicate who all this request was made of? Was it made of only minority newspapers, all

newspapers, minority radio stations, minority television stations,

all radio stations, all television stations, etc? OK?

Mr. CLAY. You have heard the request, and I am sure you will

submit it to this committee with all due speed.

[The information referred to follows:]

155

156

157

158

159

160

Ms. WATERS. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. I yield back

the balance of my time.

Mr. CLAY. I yield to Mr. Chaffetz.

Mr. CHAFFETZ. Thank you all for your testimony. I do have a series of questions.

Let me understand the macro number, the overall advertising

budget is—what is the number for the advertising budget?

Mr. TARAKAJIAN. For paid media, $130 million.

Mr. CHAFFETZ. Diving into the specifics of how that is divvied up,

my understanding, based on something that I pulled off the Web

site, is that TV is roughly 52 percent of that budget. I’m looking

at this document that I have pulled off here, draft, and it has these

little pie charts, understanding of the types of media that was run.

Mr. TARAKAJIAN. Right.

Mr. CHAFFETZ. As a general number—I’m not going to hold you

to the exact percentage—but roughly half is television?

Mr. TARAKAJIAN. That’s correct.

Mr. CHAFFETZ. Are you happy with what has happened on television? I mean, most of the articles that I saw pans what happened

on the Super Bowl ad. Are you happy with that and the Olympic

buy? My understanding is that for the Super Bowl, you spent $2.5

million buying that ad time, and Olympics is $5.1 million. Does

that sound accurate in terms of the dollars spent?

Mr. TARAKAJIAN. The Super Bowl number of $2.5 million is accurate. I don’t have the Olympics number in front of me, but that

sounds about accurate.

Mr. CHAFFETZ. Are you happy with the ad?

Mr. TARAKAJIAN. We are happy with the fact that we projected

an audience that would come out of the Super Bowl ad, the Super

Bowl advertising participation.

As I think you are aware, this was the most watched Super Bowl

ever. Those estimates were exceeded. We have now awareness of

the advertising that is, as I said in my testimony earlier, that is

extremely high for where we are at this stage of the campaign. It

is not just awareness, but the favorability, the willingness to participate and intent to participate is also very high.

So we put the two things together, and our view is that awareness and a favorable attitude toward the Census and high intent

to participate means that we are setting ourselves up to achieve a

strong motivation period.

Mr. CHAFFETZ. Who owns DRAFTFCB?

Mr. TARAKAJIAN. The interpublic group of companies.

Mr. CHAFFETZ. How do you do the actual media buying? Who is

doing the media buying and what percentage are they taking off

to actually execute the media buy?

Mr. TARAKAJIAN. The specific media buy that you are talking

about, which is for the diverse mass audience, was done by a company called Pengood, who is a subcontractor that we brought on

board who is a small, disadvantaged business that did the buying

on our behalf.

Mr. CHAFFETZ. What percentage did they take of the media buy?

You make a million dollar media buy. What percentage do they

take?

161

Mr. TARAKAJIAN. In this contract, there is no pass through on

media. So there is no percentage.

Mr. CHAFFETZ. You just paid a flat fee?

Mr. TARAKAJIAN. There is a labor fee connected with all of the

labor buys, but there is not a percentage on the media buy.

Mr. CHAFFETZ. Moving forward, I would appreciate understanding the details of that.

Specifically, I would like to understand the online campaign. One

of the more effective ways to communicate with the public is the

online communication. My understanding from what we were able

to pull off the Web site is that roughly 7 percent of your budget

was to be allocated in terms by media type online.

[The information referred to follows:]

162

163

Mr. TARAKAJIAN. In the mass—diverse mass portion of the media plan, it is roughly 10 percent of it, or $6 million is being spent online.

For some of the other audiences——

Mr. CHAFFETZ. How is that going so far?

Mr. TARAKAJIAN. To the best of my knowledge, it is going very

well so far.

Mr. CHAFFETZ. Well, my understanding, looking at the numbers

here, if you go to Facebook, look how many followers they have.

There are roughly 8,500. You go to YouTube, 64 uploads. Most

views per video is less than 8,000. On Twitter, you have about

2,400 followers.

Now these are some of the biggest, most mainstream pieces of

media that are out there in terms of online. Facebook, YouTube,

and Twitter have pretty much become household names. All told,

you are getting a few thousand type of hits in response. How can

you spend millions and have 2,400 people on Twitter? I don’t spend

anything, and I have 8,000 to 9,000 people on Twitter, for goodness

sake. How do you justify millions of dollars going out the door and

so few people participating in the program?

Mr. TARAKAJIAN. First of all, what you are talking about and

what I am talking about in terms of the online media buy are two

different things. The 10 percent of the mass communications base

plan online media buy are all of the paid media banner ads that

are part of this campaign. Those are separate and apart from what

you’re talking about, which are seeding commercials online and social media and so forth, which is a totally different piece of this.

Mr. CHAFFETZ. Mr. Chairman, I know my time is up. I do have

other questions for other panelists. I know we will have to do a

couple of rounds here.

It talks in the plan about the need to have a viral component and

to get this out there en masse. I see it as a complete and utter failure, but I would like to learn more information.

Mr. CLAY. Mr. Chaffetz, would you have any requests for documentation?

Mr. CHAFFETZ. Yes. Again, if there are more details about what

you are trying to execute, how you are trying to execute, and where

you think you are seeing success, it is a mystery to me. I am sincerely wanting to understand it. If you think my numbers are

wrong or there is a big component that we are not seeing, share

it with me, please, sooner rather than later.

Mr. CLAY. Thank you.

Mr. Cuellar, you are recognized for 5 minutes.

Mr. CUELLAR. Mr. Chairman, sorry, I was doing some addition.

First of all, Dr. Groves, it is good seeing you again. Thank you

very much for going down to Laredo and visiting the colonias, the

hard to get, hard-to-count places. Thank you very much.

For the other folks, I want to ask you a little bit about the budget. I have a contract budget that you all had prepared back in

March 26, 2009. Now I am looking at a revised budget of February

4, 2010. I want to look at a couple of numbers.

The total media buy at that time back in March of last year was $145 million, and now it has been reduced to $133 million. When

you look at the local buys, at that time I believe you had $82 milVerDate 11-MAY-2000 15:42 Nov 10, 2010 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00171 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 U:\DOCS\61800.TXT KATIE PsN: KATIE
164

lion, and now it has been reduced to $56 million. When you look

at the Hispanic buys back at that time, you had $27 million plus

for Hispanic buys, and now it is reduced down to $25.4 million.

When you look at the African Americans, the Black, at that time

you had $24.5 million. Now it is $22.9 million. So you have another

reduction.

When you look at production—and this is part of the paid media

total budget—media production went from production, which includes talent, dubbing, and GPO—I guess Government Printing Office—that one went up on production from $28 million to $36.6 million. So production went up. When you look at production, labor,

and other—and other includes travel, research, and management

reserve, and I will talk about that—when you add all of those up,

I get about $118 million for production, labor, and other. And then

total advertising is about $133 million.

So you almost have—the money that we are spending for advertising, it is almost what we are spending for production and costs

and all that, almost matches what we are spending for media. Why

are we spending so much money on production, on labor, on talent?

If you can’t get somebody to volunteer for talent, I think we have

a problem.

It is the same question that was asked by my colleague on Twitter. You are spending millions of dollars on all this. I just don’t understand. Why are we spending so much on production and labor?

Mr. TARAKAJIAN. You have to look at this in terms of the total

budget of this campaign, all the activities support. Because the

paid media part of this campaign at $133 million is one piece of

it, but it is not the whole piece. There is the Census in Schools program, and there is labor connected with that and production connected with that. There is all of the partnership materials that

have been produced.

Mr. CUELLAR. OK, let’s go back on talent. How much money did

you pay for talent?

Mr. TARAKAJIAN. I don’t have a total.

Mr. CUELLAR. $5 million? $10 million? $20 million? I assume you

got an actor. How much did we pay for talent or dubbing? Dubbing

means you reproduce. You get a copy and you reproduce that. How

much did you spend for talent, dubbing, and shipping?

Mr. TARAKAJIAN. I would have to get back to you on exactly what

those figures are for each one.

[The information referred to follows:]

165

166

167

168

169

170

Mr. CUELLAR. You have all of those folks behind you. I am sure

somebody knows how much money was spent on talent, dubbing,

and shipping.

What I am trying to say, Dr. Groves, as I mentioned the last

time we met with the chairman, why can’t we use some of that

money and put it on the local buys? I have mentioned I have four

out of the top 50 counties that are hard to count. Why can’t we use

some of that and spend it on some of the advertising for hard-tocount areas? Why reduce the Black purchases and why reduce the

Hispanic purchases? And I’m sure if I go down on the other ones

we probably would have reductions, but why increase production

which includes talent and dubbing?

Mr. TARAKAJIAN. Your question is a fair question. Every time a

commercial runs, there is a talent usage fee in connection to that

commercial. And so, therefore, that is one of the reasons why.

Mr. CUELLAR. What percentage is it? In other words, when I do

a campaign and I run something, it is usually 15 percent unless

you work out a better deal and it is less than 15, and we can do

that. Did we negotiate this to get a better deal instead of paying

millions of dollars on copying and talent?

Mr. TARAKAJIAN. It all depends on the commercial, and it depends on the number of on-camera talents who are in the commercial.

Mr. CUELLAR. Give me some of your talent who you spend $36

million on, part of that.

Mr. TARAKAJIAN. For example, there is a commercial for Diverse

Mass that ran on the Olympics called Frank that has a number of

different on-camera talents in that commercial.

There is a commercial that my colleague at GlobalHue has called

Silent Chant which is about to begin running that also has multiple on-camera talents in that commercial.

And people you know get a fee to perform, and that’s all unionized.

Mr. CUELLAR. So they get a fee.

And I’m sorry, Mr. Chairman. My time is over. But if you can

give me a courtesy just to finish my thought.

So you’re saying that you pay somebody a talent fee, and that

every time they run, they get a royalty, if I can use that term.

Mr. TARAKAJIAN. Yes.

Mr. CUELLAR. Wow.

Mr. TARAKAJIAN. That is the way the union is set up, and that

is the way——

Mr. CUELLAR. Couldn’t you use some, excuse my language, ordinary folks, you know, folks to do some of the commercials that can

reach out to them, and I see some shaking their heads, for example, local buys? If you go and talk to somebody in south Texas, they

probably trust somebody who has been on their TV channel for 10

or 15 years than have somebody that you’re paying a fee and a

commercial on that.

And again, I know my time is over but my thing is, Mr. Chairman, I want to maximize the dollars here. And if we can squeeze

that. It might be too late already. But I mean, I was hoping we

would spend a little bit more money, and we’ve talked about this.

What is the reserve management left over, Dr. Groves?

171

Dr. GROVES. The shavings of the amounts that you went through group by group assembled about $7.5 million, $8 million.

Mr. CUELLAR. So that hasn’t been reduced. So it’s still about $7.5

million.

Dr. GROVES. Yes.

Mr. CUELLAR. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you, Dr. Groves.

Mr. CLAY. Thank you, Mr. Cuellar.

And I now recognize the gentlewoman from Texas who has also

joined us. Welcome to the subcommittee.

Ms. JACKSON LEE. Mr. Chairman, let me thank you for your

courtesies. For you to have this hearing at this hour connotes,

equals, confirms the crucialness of where we are and the posture

that we find ourselves in. My name tag is not here, so he’s indicated that I am from Texas and also from Harris County.

Let me have the backdrop of my colleague, Congressman Cuellar,

in terms of his inquiry of the cost, but let me offer this on the

record. My district, which lies in Harris County, is a county, Harris

County, ranked fourth of the 50 U.S. counties with the highest

number of people living in hard-to-count areas. In fact, 80.5 percent

of the population in Harris County live in hard-to-count areas.

Even more astonishing, Harris County, TX, is one of eight counties

estimated to lose over $100 million each in Federal funds from

undercounting the 2000 census. The undercount of 2000 caused

Harris County, TX, to lose a total, including State funds, of $234

million.

Now, we juxtapose that against of course the labor cost and production cost on taxpayers dollars for trying to count people, and I’m

not sure what the impact would have. In addition, as it may have

occurred in a number of other communities, at the early point of

the Census coming out there was a big uproar over the utilization

of the word Negro. A simple courtesy, which I may have missed,

to Members of Congress that this was going to occur, since we had

not seen the early document might have been helpful, but I had to

encounter rallies and town hall meetings on the insult of the word

Negro.

I’ve obviously come to believe that the count is of crucial importance, and we work with our county and work with individuals in

the county and work with those who might have been offended

from the African American community to try to overcome the utilization of that word, which I have reason to believe, there are many

very competent reasons for that word.

I lay all that forward to raise these questions, and I’ll try to be

as quick as I can.

Dr. Groves, as you well know, I had a conversation with you and

I would like to invite you as you go into the valley to come to Houston as soon as possible, and I would like that to be within the next

10 days or so, and I would like to look at your schedule. And I say

that because you’re talking about a city that has a potential of a

great loss but also the potential to count down or count up to the

third largest city in the Nation. That’s a big vote for America.

And I would venture to say that this may be the poster child for

disorganization, not lack of good will people, but disorganization.

You have a circumstance where people have been enrolled and allegedly signed up and no word coming back on any status that they

172

have. Second, you have the representation by those who are there

saying, we cannot get individuals from the minority community,

how can you help us, and then not seeking the help. Not going into

the mass numbers of churches who will open their doors, and they

can actually put their sites of sign-up right in the place of the doors

there in the physical plan of the church building or another building that’s a 501(c)(3). Many of these buildings, churches have community centers and others that are 501(c)(3). So that’s the first

thing. Let me go directly to this question.

Let me try to find out, Dr. Groves, you’re newly appointed and

let me congratulate you, but let me try to find out, when were

these contracts let for Draft CBC, DraftFCB and GlobalHue? When

were these contracts rendered?

Mr. TARAKAJIAN. Yes. The contracts were awarded in September

2007.

Ms. JACKSON LEE. So they were awarded under the last administration, which is unfortunate.

Mr. TARAKAJIAN. That’s correct.

Ms. JACKSON LEE. And then the GlobalHue is, what? Is that a

subcontractor?

Mr. TARAKAJIAN. GlobalHue is a subcontractor to DraftFCB.

Ms. JACKSON LEE. Is that the only subcontractor?

Mr. TARAKAJIAN. No, there are other subcontractors who are part

of the contract. The IW Group, GlobalHue Latino, D’Esposito Partners, to name a few. Most of them are multicultural agencies specializing in——

Ms. JACKSON LEE. And how were they chosen?

Mr. TARAKAJIAN. They were chosen by DraftFCB prior to award

and reviewed by the Census in making that award.

Ms. JACKSON LEE. Will the chairman indulge me? My red light

went on. I’m just trying to follow a line of questioning.

Mr. CLAY. Sure. You can finish up, Ms. Jackson Lee.

Ms. JACKSON LEE. Let me, first of all, make the official request.

Dr. Groves, can I have a confirmation that you’ll work with your

schedule?

Dr. GROVES. I would be happy to be with you in Houston as soon

as I can.

Ms. JACKSON LEE. Thank you.

And I know that we will work through that.

Mr. Tarakajian, is it?

Mr. TARAKAJIAN. Tarakajian.

Ms. JACKSON LEE. Excuse me, I’m sorry, Tarakajian, excuse me.

Let me make the request for the whole list of subcontractors that

you have. And I understand that was through the private sector.

So you were selected, and then you selected GlobalHue?

Mr. TARAKAJIAN. Actually what happened is we selected a team

that we went through the pitch process with, with all the various

stages.

Ms. JACKSON LEE. So you went in, and then you got selected.

Mr. TARAKAJIAN. Correct.

Ms. JACKSON LEE. Were there others that came on board after

the fact?

Mr. TARAKAJIAN. There’s a core group of subcontractors who have

been with us from the very beginning.

173

Ms. JACKSON LEE. Right. That’s the team.

Mr. TARAKAJIAN. And then there are other subcontractors who,

for example, when I talked about Pengood a little while ago as the

media buyer, there were other awards of subcontractors that were

made along the way for various purposes.

Ms. JACKSON LEE. Well, maybe there will be a second round. Let

me just ask for the full complement of contractors, subcontractors

and subcontractors and by region please. I assume their address

will tell me by region.

[The information referred to follows:]

174

175

176

177

178

179

180

Ms. JACKSON LEE. Then let me also put on the record that you

all are very hard to reach, and no response comes back. I’m not

going to say that I tried to reach out to GlobalHue, Mr. Garcia, Ms.

Ennis, because I think I got frustrated early on.

But the selection process that you use for minority buys is unacceptable. And I understand that the first amount of money was

$2.5 million, is that correct? I’m sorry for the Black print media,

$2.5 million? Or was it for a total of media, Hispanic and African

American, Ms. Ennis?

Ms. ENNIS. Are you asking what the total budget is now?

Ms. JACKSON LEE. No. What was it before?

Ms. ENNIS. It was $1.7 million.

Ms. JACKSON LEE. It was $1.7. What is it now?

Ms. ENNIS. And it’s $2.5 million now.

Ms. JACKSON LEE. So that’s unacceptable as well.

Mr. CLAY. Representative, we will have a second round. I’ll allow

you to do that.

Ms. JACKSON LEE. All right. And I will finish on this. I want to

put on the record the Houston Sun that was a missing element

when all the other papers came out, and then I will yield back, Mr.

Chairman.

[The prepared statement of Hon. Sheila Jackson Lee follows:]

181

182

183

184

185

Mr. CLAY. Thank you so much, and you will get a second round.

Let me say that I’m very concerned about reports that I have received from local elected officials who have conveyed to me that

they are not hearing the confidentiality message in the paid media

campaign. In other words, certain constituent groups are concerned

about information that they give to the Census on these forms on

the questionnaire.

In terms of special outreach to these groups, I see the Census advertising has failed to adequately address these concerns about

confidentiality among hard-to-count groups. Will you take steps to

correct this problem, and could supplemental media be created to

specifically close this confidentiality gap? I’ll let anyone try to answer that.

Mr. TARAKAJIAN. That is probably best answered by a number of

us because it varies by audience, quite honestly. The simple answer

to your question, though, is that there are different creative messaging executions that we have that, to varying degrees, have the

confidentiality message in it. And it varies by audience where, for

example, we found that among the Hispanic audience it’s a very

important issue; a less important issue across the diverse mass audience. And the messaging that we have reflects that difference depending upon the specific audience.

Mr. CLAY. Well, but that may be where you might not have all

of the information you need about those audiences because I’m

hearing it in my district, and I’m hearing it from a predominantly

African American audience over maybe legal concerns, maybe the

number of people who live in a certain house that’s contrary to

codes, to building codes and occupation codes. I mean, so as these

things crop up, hopefully, you will have some type of strategy that

effectively addresses it.

Yes, Dr. Groves.

Dr. GROVES. We’re tracking through sample surveys daily multiple methods of tracking the knowledge of the public about these

various components. Confidentiality is one. Another is, do people

know that this is a 10-minute questionnaire, and do they know, do

they link the Census to the return of taxpayer money, the $400 billion a year? We’re tracking this by subgroup. And when we’re seeing groups reacting to a particular message inadequately, then

there’s a chance to intervene.

So let me give you an example of this. To our surprise, to my surprise anyway, the message that’s getting out least well right now

is that this is a short questionnaire and it only takes 10 minutes.

And we have to do something about that because that’s a very good

story. So we’re trying to measure it and then react to it as much

as we can.

Mr. CLAY. As far as tracking, how will the Census Bureau know

if the Integrated Communications Campaign increased the mail response rate? And to what extent will the Bureau calculate the return on its investment in advertising?

Dr. GROVES. I love this question because, in my ideal world, we

wouldn’t advertise because everyone would know the Census is

coming. And so it was a question on my mind when I entered this

position. There is for the first time an experiment, an examination

of this built into the Census advertising where there are a set of

186

media markets where the advertising levels are going to be systematically varied and will study the impact of that variability. So I

think, for the first time, at the end of this, we’ll have better data

for every dollar we spend on advertising what was the impact on

change between 2000 and 2010.

Mr. CLAY. How will the Bureau use the realtime information it

is collecting, such as Gallup data and early mail response data, to

respond to challenges, such as unexpected regional disparities in

mail response rates? And what are the targeted response rates that

trigger new advertising spending in geographic areas?

Dr. GROVES. This is something that I hope everyone watches. So

starting about the third week of March, the proportion of houses

that are returning the questionnaire will be published daily at a

track level. You’ll be able to go to our Web site, type in your zip

code and see how your zip code is doing, how tracks in your zip

code are doing. If you want to compare St. Louis to Kansas City

on the return rate, you’ll be able to do this.

We hope that local officials and our partners throughout the

country are watching this in addition to us, and we are proposing

to intervene both with the money we’ve held back on advertising

for those areas that are doing less well than we anticipated despite

everything we did. We’re studying this process. We have a team of

people trying to predict what’s going to happen, and we’re forecasting it and will do interventions both on paid media, and then also

we’ll get the word out to our partners to help us in this area, this

neighborhood isn’t doing as well as we—this is going to be a first

time for this. It will be very interesting. I’m very hopeful about it.

Mr. CLAY. I’m very curious about it, so thank you for that response.

Mr. Chaffetz, you’re recognized.

Mr. CHAFFETZ. Thank you.

I want to followup, Director Groves, on something you talked

about. One of the concerns that you just mentioned in your testimony was the idea that we are requiring the short form as opposed

to a long form. I think one of the reasons that we have that concern

so rampant in the marketplace is that these American community

surveys are being sent out which are very comprehensive. Don’t

you think this adds to the confusion? I mean, at the same time

we’re running Super Bowl ads and doing those types of things, people are getting these in the mail. Why—and then you expect somebody, you know, the following month or two to go back and fill out

another form. Why are we doing this at the same time?

Dr. GROVES. The American Community Survey was passed by

Congress as a way to separate the long form from the short form.

So, in essence, the content of that questionnaire you just held up

is quite similar to the original long form. Every question in that

questionnaire——

Mr. CHAFFETZ. And on the envelope it says ‘‘U.S. Census Bureau.’’

Dr. GROVES [continuing]. Is specified by some law passed by Congress that there must be information on that item in order to implement a program that Congress has passed, so that’s the reason

for that questionnaire.

187

The confusion you speak to is something I worry about. I was

concerned about that when I entered office. We have alerted the

folks who are falling in the sample of the American Community

Survey about the fact that this is not the decennial census and

they will get another Census form. We’re watching right now the

response rates on the American Community Survey to see if there

is confusion among—if they’re performing differently.

Mr. CHAFFETZ. Our time is short. I think naturally given that

these forms are arriving so similar in their time is terribly confusing. I had a town hall meeting just in the last 2 weeks. A person

came up and handed this, didn’t understand. And again, for another discussion, I think it’s a very invasive questionnaire. I mean,

one of the questions on the questionnaire is literally, ‘‘does this person have difficulty dressing or bathing?’’ And I got to tell you, I—

again, separate hearing, Mr. Chairman, but I think we need to go

back and better understand the need of this. It’s 11 pages for the

first person just to get through. It says it’s coming from the Census

Bureau at the same time we’re trying to get people to fill out the

other forms.

And the other thing is we talk about groups that are difficult to

get to. One of the questions right here at the beginning after you

kind of get past your pages of housing is, literally, the third question asked them if they are a citizen. And so we have people that

are afraid of filling out these forms because you’re going to be

asked detailed questions; is this person a citizen of the United

States?

I think this is terribly confusing in terms of its timing and whatnot, and we will have to continue to go back. I don’t understand

what constitutional role this plays or the authority that it meets,

but I understand that there are laws on the books, and we’ll have

to address those.

My understanding is that the Bureau has overspent its $356 mil- lion address canvassing budget by $88 million, roughly a 25 percent cost overrun. What is your best projection today as to where

you’re going to be in terms of your overall budget, given everything

else that’s going on?

Dr. GROVES. I testified on that overrun twice in front of this committee, as you may recall, Congressman.

Mr. CHAFFETZ. Just hoping for an update, just a quick sentence

or two.

Dr. GROVES. I am optimistic, based on the rebudgeting of the operations going forward that we just completed and that we have

sufficient money for the 2010 census, all the further operations.

Every operation we’ve done since that event has been on time and

either on budget or under budget.

Mr. CHAFFETZ. The Washington Post, it was cited in the Washington Post, the GAO warned that, in a Senate subcommittee hearing recently, that the Bureau’s computer software that handles personnel and payroll systems as well as processes the proper paper

questionnaires, ‘‘has not yet demonstrated an ability to function at

the necessary capacity later this year.’’ Can you give us the most

recent update on that?

Dr. GROVES. That is a true statement. When I testified in front

of this committee last time, I noted that this was the highest-risk

188

software development that we were involved in. It continues to be

a high-risk development. We have—I brought in a team that’s an

external and independent assessment group, and we are literally

meeting daily on this issue right now.

Mr. CHAFFETZ. When you say ‘‘risk,’’ can you give us some—you

say ‘‘high risk.’’ I mean, how worried should we be about this?

Dr. GROVES. If I could finish, I could address your concerns I

think. The software is being released in three components.

The first component is released and is in production. The production performance of it is less than desirable but adequate for the

operations. We’re ramping up operations, so right now, we’re having low-level operations. It’s fitting production needs now.

The second release just occurred last Friday. It will start production—well, it started production the last few days.

The big production component will be released at the end of

March for the nonresponse followup stage. That’s what we’re really

focusing on. We have a team together that is making the kind of

tradeoff decisions you need to make in a large software development with a fixed deadline. And that is, some of the functions that

were desired for computer assistance will be, will have

workarounds that will be manual in nature.

When I do my visits around the country to our regional offices

it gives me some comfort that they’re ready to do those in a manual

mode because all past Censuses did those manually, that was a

step up and will pull off those things. So we’re focusing on the

identification of the core functions that allow us to do a successful

Census. That’s where we are right now.

Mr. CHAFFETZ. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Mr. CLAY. Thank you Mr. Chaffetz.

And now we will recognize Ms. Waters for a second round.

Ms. WATERS. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman, for the opportunity to do this second round. I need to understand the organization of the media companies that are involved in this campaign.

Now, you are DraftFCB, is that right?

Mr. TARAKAJIAN. That’s correct.

Ms. WATERS. OK. And you are the media company that’s coordinating all of the media buys and production, etc?

Mr. TARAKAJIAN. We are the prime contractor, meaning that we

have some specific responsibilities that are ours which are overall

coordination of the campaign elements. And then we have a whole

host of subcontractors who work for us who bring certain expertise

to the table, such as expertise on the Black audience or expertise

in the Hispanic audience.

Ms. WATERS. That’s OK. You don’t have to tell me what they do.

I just want the structure. You’re the prime contractor.

Mr. TARAKAJIAN. Yes.

Ms. WATERS. How many subcontractors do you have?

Mr. TARAKAJIAN. There are, in addition to us, there are, I believe

it’s 12 additional subcontractors.

Ms. WATERS. Twelve additional subcontractors now?

Mr. TARAKAJIAN. Yes.

Ms. WATERS. Were these subcontractors hired through an RFP

process?

189

Mr. TARAKAJIAN. These subcontractors were hired originally as

part of our team process for pitching the Census.

Ms. WATERS. Just tell me, were they RFP, or were they just selected or appointed or however?

Mr. TARAKAJIAN. Well, we went through an RFP process.

Ms. WATERS. So you selected these 12 additional contractors

through an RFP process, is that correct?

Mr. TARAKAJIAN. The RFP process that we went through was

with the Census to get the contract, if that’s what you mean by an

RFP process.

Ms. WATERS. No. Let me tell you what I mean. You hired 12 additional contractors, is that right?

Mr. TARAKAJIAN. We brought—we had a team of subcontractors

who have worked with us from the beginning. And they were all

part of the original contract and RFP process that we went through

with the Census Bureau.

Ms. WATERS. You have 12 contractors?

Mr. TARAKAJIAN. Correct.

Ms. WATERS. How were they hired? How did you get these 12

contractors? You said some were with you from the beginning. I

don’t know what that means.

Mr. TARAKAJIAN. OK. There are two processes that were at work

here. We selected partners to work with us as subcontractors.

Ms. WATERS. How many partners did you select as subcontractors that did not go through an RFP process?

Mr. TARAKAJIAN. There were no subcontractors that we selected

that were not part of an RFP process.

Ms. WATERS. OK. So, in the beginning, you selected contractors;

that’s what you said.

Mr. TARAKAJIAN. That’s correct.

Ms. WATERS. How did you select them? What process did you

use?

Mr. TARAKAJIAN. And we all together went through an RFP process to be awarded this contract.

Ms. WATERS. So the 12—so, in the beginning, the contractors

that you selected went through an RFP process.

Mr. TARAKAJIAN. That’s correct.

Ms. WATERS. Why couldn’t you just say that? RFP process, OK.

Mr. TARAKAJIAN. Because I’m trying to make the distinction between what——

Ms. WATERS. How many were selected through the RFP process

in what you call the beginning?

Mr. TARAKAJIAN. They were all part of the RFP process that we

went through, along with our subcontractors.

Ms. WATERS. All 12?

Mr. TARAKAJIAN. Yes, along with our subcontractors.

Ms. WATERS. OK. Are these independent contractors, or are these

contractors subcontractors to you or the company that you subcontract to?

Mr. TARAKAJIAN. No, they are subcontractors to us.

Ms. WATERS. To you.

Mr. TARAKAJIAN. Correct.

Ms. WATERS. So these are not independent contractors; these are

people who work for you.

190

Mr. TARAKAJIAN. Yes.

Ms. WATERS. So you did an RFP process for people who work for

you.

Mr. TARAKAJIAN. We did an—we were, along with all of those

subcontractors that I’m just talking about, part of the RFP process

that we went through with the Census Bureau in selecting us and

also selecting those subcontractors.

Ms. WATERS. So, basically, your company controls all the subcontractors because they worked for you anyway?

Mr. TARAKAJIAN. Well, there are now subcontracts that our subcontractors have for media buying and other activities.

Ms. WATERS. We’ll get to that. But let’s make sure we understand that, in the beginning, as you referred to it——

Mr. TARAKAJIAN. Correct.

Ms. WATERS [continuing]. You selected 12 contractors, all of

whom were subcontractors to you already.

Mr. TARAKAJIAN. Well, they weren’t already subcontractors.

Ms. WATERS. Well, how did they get to be—they are your people

subcontractors.

Mr. TARAKAJIAN. Well, when you say that they are our

people——

Ms. WATERS. Well, you said in the beginning——

Mr. TARAKAJIAN [continuing]. They are not necessarily part of

our company. Some of them are; some of them are not.

Ms. WATERS. I don’t care how they are hired by you. The question becomes are these subcontractors a part of your company,

whether they’re part time, full time, hired in the beginning or later

on, these are your subcontractors in your company, right?

Mr. TARAKAJIAN. GlobalHue is not part of our company. Allied

Media, who is a subcontractor, is not part of our company.

Ms. WATERS. How many are part of your company, 12, right?

Mr. TARAKAJIAN. No.

Ms. WATERS. How many of the 12?

Mr. TARAKAJIAN. I will tell you who is part of our company.

Ms. WATERS. Just tell me how many of the 12.

Mr. TARAKAJIAN. Weber Shandwick is one.

Ms. WATERS. You don’t have to name them. I just want to know

how many.

Mr. TARAKAJIAN. Well, I’m trying to go through in my head how

many are part of our company and how many are not.

Ms. WATERS. We only have so many minutes. How many? Can

you guess? Somebody tell him.

Mr. TARAKAJIAN. I believe there are two; Weber Shandwick and

Jack Morton—I’m sorry, three. The IW Group is also part of our

Interpublic Group of Companies.

Ms. WATERS. So 3 of the 12 are your own subcontractors that

were hired through some RFP process.

Mr. TARAKAJIAN. They are owned by the same holding company

as we are.

Ms. WATERS. Oh, well, what’s the holding company?

Mr. TARAKAJIAN. Interpublic Group of Companies.

Ms. WATERS. So you are owned by whom?

Mr. TARAKAJIAN. A company called the Interpublic Group of

Companies.

191

Ms. WATERS. Interpublic Group of Companies. So they own you

and the subcontractors?

Mr. TARAKAJIAN. They own us and the three subcontractors that

I mentioned. They do not own the other subcontractors.

Ms. WATERS. Three of the 12, is that right?

Mr. TARAKAJIAN. Excuse me.

Ms. WATERS. Three of the 12.

Mr. TARAKAJIAN. I believe it’s three of the 12, yes.

Ms. WATERS. OK. Now, tell me about GlobalHue? You have

GlobalHue Black and GlobalHue Latino or something like that.

Mr. TARAKAJIAN. That’s correct.

Ms. WATERS. Is that one company, or is that two companies?

Mr. TARAKAJIAN. GlobalHue African American and GlobalHue

Latino is one company with two separate operations; one targeted

to the Black audience, and the other targeted to——

Ms. WATERS. You don’t need to tell me all that. Who owns

GlobalHue?

Ms. ENNIS. Don Coleman.

Ms. WATERS. So he owns——

Ms. ENNIS. GlobalHue and GlobalHue Latino.

Ms. WATERS. But he’s not owned by——

Ms. ENNIS. He’s not owned by Interpublic, no.

Ms. WATERS. OK. Did he have to go through an RFP process, or

was he appointed or selected to do the media buys for the Black

and Latino audiences? Did he go through an RFP process?

Ms. ENNIS. He went through the RFP process with DraftFCB.

Ms. WATERS. With whom?

Ms. ENNIS. DraftFCB.

Ms. WATERS. So you selected all of the other nine through an

RFP process, is that what you did?

Mr. TARAKAJIAN. We selected all of the other subcontractors to

be part of our team. Together, we went through this RFP process

with the Census Bureau to be awarded the contract in 2007.

Ms. WATERS. Thank you.

I’m not interested in how many people were involved in the RFP

process. I just wanted to know, was there an RFP process. I’m trying to understand who owns what and how they were selected.

Mr. TARAKAJIAN. I’m trying to help you understand it.

Ms. WATERS. OK. If you would just answer the question and not

editorialize, you would help me out, OK. So I think we’re at this

point.

Now, can you tell me how much each—the first three that are

owned by your company, how much are they contracted for? How

much, what is the value of each of those contracts?

Mr. TARAKAJIAN. Well, first of all, I don’t have that information

at my fingertips in terms of how much.

Ms. WATERS. Well, how much is your contract? What is the value

of your contract?

Mr. TARAKAJIAN. The total value of the contract is——

Ms. WATERS. Of yours, just yours.

Mr. TARAKAJIAN. Well, the total value of the contract is $340 million.

Ms. WATERS. So $340 million. Who gets paid out of that $340

million?

192

Mr. TARAKAJIAN. All of the subcontractors, ourselves, all of the

media that’s purchased, all of the production that’s done, literally

every activity.

Ms. WATERS. So you have a $340 million contract; three of the

subcontractors are your people that work in the company that you

work for.

Mr. TARAKAJIAN. Correct.

Ms. WATERS. You don’t know how much they are paid, each of

them? You don’t know what those contracts are worth.

Mr. TARAKAJIAN. I do. I don’t have that information at my fingertips with me.

Ms. WATERS. Do you know how much the other nine contracts

are worth?

Mr. TARAKAJIAN. Again, they are not contracts where somebody

was awarded a specific amount to do the work.

Ms. WATERS. It’s an open-ended contract.

Mr. TARAKAJIAN. It is a contract where we have come together to work on the $340 million contract and mutually, collaboratively

come up with how we are going to divide those roles and responsibilities.

Ms. WATERS. I only want to know what you paid these people.

I don’t care how collaborative you are. I want to know, how much

does each one of them make? Are you telling me it’s an open-ended

contract; you don’t have an exact number that you contracted for;

is that what you’re telling me?

Mr. TARAKAJIAN. No. I can provide that information for you. I

don’t have it at my fingertips right now.

Ms. WATERS. Mr. Chairman, I would like to request that information be provided. As a matter of fact, if you’re going to have any

more hearings, I would like to see a flow chart of how these companies are connected, how much money they are contracted for and

whether or not there was an RFP process in this collaborative effort that is being described to us.

Thank you, and I yield back the balance of my time.

[The information referred to follows:]

193

194

195

196

197

198

199

200

201

202

203

204

205

206

207

208

209

210

211

212

213

214

215

Mr. CUELLAR [presiding]. Thank you. And I thank the gentlewoman from California.

For the record, sir, 10 days from now, submit to the committee

the information that Ms. Waters requested.

Ms. WATERS. Excuse me, if I can, thank you. There was one part

of the question that was not answered. While the gentleman may

not know how much the other subcontracts are worth, I asked him

how much was his worth, and that was not answered. He gave me

the big answer of $340 million. So let me, if I may, inquire of that.

Mr. CUELLAR. Yeah, why don’t we do this.

Sir, again, for the record, submit to the committee in writing

within 10 days from today the information that she requested specifically on the $340 million contract. If you can break that down

as to what your company and the subcontractors make.

Ms. WATERS. He doesn’t know how much he makes now.

Mr. CUELLAR. Well, apparently, he doesn’t, right; is that correct?

Ms. WATERS. You don’t know how much your contract is worth?

Mr. TARAKAJIAN. Our contract is worth $340 million. That is the

value of the contract.

Ms. WATERS. But you told me everybody gets paid out of that

contract.

Mr. TARAKAJIAN. That’s correct.

Ms. WATERS. How much do you get paid out of the $340 million

for your company?

Mr. TARAKAJIAN. Again, I would have to go and collect that information.

Mr. CUELLAR. Why don’t we go ahead and provide that information to the committee within 10 working days from today, sir.

Mr. TARAKAJIAN. Will do.

Mr. CUELLAR. And also the information I requested on the production, labor, breakdown on the tallying, the dubbing, the shipping and all that, if I can have the breakdown, again, to be submitted to the committee within 10 working days.

[The information referred to follows:]

216

217

Mr. CUELLAR. At this time, I’ll recognize the gentlewoman from

Texas, Ms. Jackson Lee, if you have any further questions. You’re

recognized for 5 minutes.

Ms. JACKSON LEE. Thank you very much.

Dr. Groves, I want to pointedly speak to you because you represent the administration, and really say to you that we do want

to be your partner. We know that this is a collective challenge and

responsibility in this instance for at least two branches of government, the executive and the Congress.

I want to, first of all, thank the chairman for this hearing and

just hope that you will leave here knowing that we are in fact partners. As I ask my questions, and I’m asking them because I am on

the ground in our respective districts, and I see either the confusion that I’ve acknowledged and/or the angst and anguish. For example, you’ve indicated, and you might want to answer this, you

say if you had been in place, you would not have used I guess print

media or advertising. And I would be interested, I want to go

quickly, so I want to hear that question.

But what I also wanted to say to you is that, culturally speaking,

and I don’t pretend to be the expert, but living amongst very diverse cultures, there are some print newspapers, for example, that

are in essence the Bible in certain communities. Whether it’s

Asian, whether it’s in it’s in their own language, many languagedirected newspapers, whether it’s Latino, whether it’s immigrant,

vast immigrant, whether it is subsets of the African American population, that means African, Haitian and others, these newspapers

are valuable. And so when I made the comment about, I was not

being short the Arab American community. I was not being light

in my assessment of $1.7 million and then moving it to $2.5 million, as if I was going to tumble over and feel so overwhelmed by

the increase.

And let me tell you what my concern is. You know, you wonder—

I enjoyed the Super Bowl. I went to about four or five Super Bowl

parties, and I enjoyed the diversity of the folk that I saw. Unfortunately, I might have been like a lot of Americans. Maybe some people were sitting down. But I can tell you this. In the homes that

I went in, people were so busy slapping five and having a good

time, I’m not sure what advertisements they might have seen. And

so, even though you might have had a great audience, I can’t take

a poll. I’m sure there was a judgment made on that point, but I’m

not sure whether anybody came away and said, ‘‘do you know

what, besides the Saints going marching in, do you know that the

Census is here?’’

Dr. Groves, I’m not sure that occurred. But I will tell you that

newspaper ads and electronic media in specific audiences, minority

radio, make a difference on drive time. Somebody picking up a

newspaper at a church or at a store, they take those papers home.

They open them. They may not be reading everything, but if they

get a front page slot or they see an ad, they will move forward on

that because it’s a piece of paper that they’re holding onto.

Let me just hear you very quickly. What did you say about print

advertising? I wasn’t sure whether you were saying you were for

it or you would have done something different.

218

Dr. GROVES. What I tried to convey, first of all, I’m not an advertiser.

Ms. JACKSON LEE. And I understand. This is just your preference. We’ve already gone over that.

Dr. GROVES. I’ve learned a lot over the past few months.

But what was done, I’m sure, because I’ve seen the approach,

was to examine for the hard-to-count groups their media consumption by type of media.

Ms. JACKSON LEE. Right.

Dr. GROVES. That led to the targeting.

And so if you go across these different hard-to-count groups, the

role of radio in the community varies across the groups. The role

of print varies and so on. So that guided the national buys.

In the last few months, I’ve been traveling all over the place. I’ve

talked to local folks. I was in Minneapolis last, gee, just a few days

ago, with local newspapers talking about exactly what you’re talking about, but this was the Somali community in Minneapolis.

Ms. JACKSON LEE. Right. I know them well.

Dr. GROVES. I get this point, and when I go back and look at the

national plan, I see the difficulty we have communicating the fact

that we have to have certain thresholds; we have to go off of audience figures for the outlooks that we’re using. That’s the——

Ms. JACKSON LEE. So you’re buying into it now. You would have

had a different approach, but you understand what we’re saying.

Dr. GROVES. I understand. And we tried—when I asked how we

did this, we tried to get input from our regional offices, and they

did indeed enrich the media outlet list that was part of the——

Ms. JACKSON LEE. Let me, because my time is going.

Dr. GROVES. Sorry.

[The information referred to follows:]

219

220

221

222

Ms. JACKSON LEE. But let me get on record with you, Director

Groves, $2.5 million is not enough for print media. I haven’t gotten

the electronic media, and I’m going to do a series of questions. I

want to leave you now, because you have indicated that you will

reach out to me on the organization and the enrollment and no response and a lot of other issues that we need to talk about on the

record.

I want to get that on the record acknowledging how important

these people are.

Can I just make these questions, Mr. Tarakajian, on the record,

Mr. Chairman, I need to get, as I indicated, a list of all the contractors, and Congresswoman Waters may have asked that. But to Mr.

Garcia and Ms. Ennis, I need all of the—you’re doing radio and

print?

Ms. ENNIS. Yes.

Ms. JACKSON LEE. Are you producing ads as well?

Ms. ENNIS. GlobalHue and GlobalHue Latino are producing ads

as well.

Ms. JACKSON LEE. So you’re getting persons to act. Are you doing

television?

Ms. ENNIS. TV, radio.

Ms. JACKSON LEE. OK. What’s the buy for television?

Ms. ENNIS. I’m not sure what your question is.

Ms. JACKSON LEE. How much are you spending on TV that’s directed to the minority community?

Ms. ENNIS. Local TV or national or both?

Ms. JACKSON LEE. Both.

Ms. ENNIS. OK, can I take 1 second?

Ms. JACKSON LEE. OK. Then let me—Mr. Garcia is answering

the same thing. This is combined.

The second thing is, I need from you the list of all print that

you’re utilizing.

And let me be on the record that I have no ownership in the

Houston Sun. I’m using it as an example, and I’m not precluding

anyone else. I would like to get a list of all of the newspapers. The

only reason I use them as an example is my understanding is that

they were part of the conversation and dialog by several groups,

and there may be others in Atlanta or others somewhere else, and

they were left out.

Ms. ENNIS. Houston Sun is on our media buy.

Ms. JACKSON LEE. We don’t have that information, but if you

would give me the whole list. And that is all the papers.

And then if you have an immigrant population paper list, I would

appreciate it.

Ms. ENNIS. Yes, we do.

Ms. WATERS. Will the gentlelady yield?

Ms. JACKSON LEE. I would be happy to yield.

Ms. WATERS. While you’re making that request, would you also

request, I guess, what would be termed as the coverage that particular newspaper has? Because as I’ve been looking at some of this

information, it seems so disproportionate. There are some newspapers that, or magazines, that they give extraordinary amounts

to, and ones who have more coverage get less amounts. And I want

223

to see how they make these decisions. So if you would include that

in your request, I would appreciate it.

Ms. JACKSON LEE. I think the gentlelady is correct. The analysis

of how you made the decisions and how you make decisions as to

the amount of advertising in the particular media magazines versus others.

I hear the gavel, and I’m just—was this submitted in the record,

this is the American survey.

Mr. CUELLAR. Without objection.

[The information referred to follows:]

224

225

226

227

228

229

230

231

232

233

234

235

236

237

238

239

240

241

242

243

244

245

246

247

248

249

250

251

252

253

254

255

256

257

258

259

260

261

262

263

264

265

266

267

268

269

270

271

272

273

274

275

276

277

Ms. JACKSON LEE. I would like to submit this in the record. I

guess we’re not having another round.

But Director Groves, I think this is your document, this is the

American survey?

Dr. GROVES. The American Community Survey, yes.

Ms. JACKSON LEE. I will say to you that this is posing a lot of

confusion, and maybe we will get an answer on how we decipher

that and get people to know it’s 10 minutes and 10 questions. And

I know my colleague raised the same point. And how we separate

this out. Why couldn’t this be sent 2011 and get this information

or December 2010 to get this information? So I yield back.

And I thank the chairman.

Mr. CUELLAR. Thank you very much.

One question, before I pass it on to the ranking member, the

company D’Esposito, is that one of them also that’s owned by you?

Mr. TARAKAJIAN. Yes. D’ Esposito is a company that is one of our

core subcontractors, but we hired them after.

Mr. CUELLAR. Is that part of the three, or is that No. 4?

Mr. TARAKAJIAN. No, they are not owned by the Interpublic

Group. They are an independent company.

Mr. CUELLAR. OK. And I want to correct myself on something.

In Homeland, I usually give 10 days, but I understand this committee, it’s 5 days. So I will correct myself and ask that the information be submitted 5 days, 5 working days from today.

At this time, I’ll recognize the ranking member.

Mr. CHAFFETZ. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Before I was talking about the American Community Survey and

some of the concerns about the timing, the questions and whatnot.

Let me also say publicly that the Republican National Committee,

I’m a Republican, sent out a so-called census across the country. I

think that was wrong. I don’t think we should necessarily mandate

or put in statute that you shouldn’t use the word ‘‘census.’’ But I

think it was deceiving at best. And I wish my party had not done

that.

I would encourage others to not try to piggyback and take advantage of the word ‘‘census’’ at a time that we’re trying to encourage

participation. And I think it was used as an enticement to open an

envelope, and I wish they hadn’t have done it.

But I want to be fair on both sides and stand on principle, and

so I want to say that.

I have been somewhat frustrated, Director Groves, as you know,

about the question of hiring criminals to conduct the enumeration

parts of the Census. I would like to ask again, how many criminals

are we hiring to do the enumeration, and what crimes do you think

are acceptable to be hired to become an enumerator?

Dr. GROVES. I could—I briefed the chairman and the Ranking

Member McHenry on the changes in both the fingerprinting and

the adjudication process. And I think we were close to having a

meeting, but the snowfall did us in, of all the Members. I would

be happy to do that again. If you would like I could read through

all of the crime types that throw out an applicant immediately

from consideration.

Mr. CHAFFETZ. I guess for the benefit of the full committee, I

would like your commitment and understand the timing of when

278

you’re going to provide that information. I think those are two critical pieces of information. I think Congress is entitled to see that

information.

Dr. GROVES. I’m happy to do that right now if you would like

Congressman.

Mr. CHAFFETZ. And in the essence of time, I want to be careful

of my colleagues, if you can submit it right now that would be

great. I will look at it and read through it tomorrow. I understand

there’s going to be a lengthy list of maybe what’s not acceptable,

but I also want to see what’s acceptable. And I would like to know

how many people we are hiring that fall into this category.

So, again, if I have your commitment that you have this information, that you will provide it. We’ll try this again. The hour is late,

and we’re coming up on 9 here. Do I have your assurance that you

are going to provide that information?

Dr. GROVES. Sure.

[The information referred to follows:]

279

280

281

282

Mr. CHAFFETZ. OK. I appreciate it, because my time is real short,

one last thing, I would appreciate your explanation on, what is this

category called ‘‘Census in schools?’’ How much are we spending

there, and what does that really do? I mean, if you’re a 12-yearold kid, you’re not going to be able to fill out the Census. And I

guess you want to encourage mom to do it, but what is this program? And why are we spending so much? And how much are we

spending on it, and why are we spending so much on it?

Dr. GROVES. We’re spending about $13 million on it. And let me

tell you the program to answer your question. This is a program

that has exercises for K-through-12 kids, year appropriate. The

focus of the exercise is to teach the constitutional basis of the Census in those grades that can consume that. In grades that are

lower, it talks about what a Census is, the fact that this country,

since 1790, has done this. And they do exercises; accounting, map

reading. There’s a bit of civics, a bit of arithmetic, a bit of geography that’s done.

What we found I think and what other countries have found repeatedly is that, for new immigrant families, the children are the

first to learn the language of the new country. And to the extent

they understand the message and they look forward to participating in their Census, their first Census for many of them, that aids

the participation rate of others. I’ve gone to several schools around

the country. We have enlisted the help of Sesame Street characters

to help get this message out, so the Count and Rosita sometimes

come with me. The kids get it.

Mr. CHAFFETZ. Maybe next time you could bring them along.

Dr. GROVES. I have quizzed kids about things that my adult

friends don’t know. The lessons are working. They know why we

do a Census. They know—some of them know that Thomas Jefferson was the first Director of the census. They get it. So I think this

is an area that we should all be proud that we’re teaching these

young Americans about how this country works and how the census fits into it.

Mr. CHAFFETZ. It sounds like an admirable goal. You know, I

question $13 million, and how did it work. And, obviously, I think,

Mr. Chairman, it’s $13 million. How is that money passed out?

Dr. GROVES. This is actually done through schools. So with an alliance from scholastic.com, teachers can go to the Web site and

download the materials. This seems to be working. And then we

send out maps and other materials directly to the schools.

Mr. CHAFFETZ. If we could learn the details of how that is administered and how that money gets put out.

Dr. GROVES. Sure.

Mr. CHAFFETZ. On the one hand, it sounds like a very large number. When you think about the tens of millions of kids we have out

there and all the schools——

Dr. GROVES. And do you know what’s fun? To go to a school in

your district and watch them do this exercise.

Mr. CHAFFETZ. If we could learn more about how that money is

administered and who has that contract. That’s sort of similar to

what we were talking about before. We would appreciate it.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

283

Mr. CUELLAR. And Director Groves, again, within 5 days, if you

can submit that information from today. Director Groves.

We’re about to close, but let me say, you and I have spoken about

the question that the ranking member asked, and of course, you’re

going to do everything to make sure that the American public is

protected; is that correct?

Dr. GROVES. Absolutely. I’ve testified and I’ve given speeches

that the safety of both the American public and our enumerators

are key to the success of the Census. This has to be both true in

fact and true in perception. I care deeply about this. We’re doing

everything we can to make sure that occurs.

[The information referred to follows:]

284

285

286

287

288

289

290

291

Mr. CUELLAR. And I know you well, so I appreciate your time.

Director Groves—one more? One more question, and then we’re

going to move to the next panel.

Ms. JACKSON LEE. A record clarification if I could.

And, Dr. Groves, you didn’t answer my question on the American

survey, the timing. Is that now, or is it later?

Dr. GROVES. Since the early 2000’s, continuously we’ve been

doing that survey. Every month, a small sample of households get

that, and it just keeps going forever.

Ms. JACKSON LEE. You might think with your top leadership how

we can help people discern the two, particularly in the unaccounted

area.

Mr. Chairman, just a record clarification. Ms. Ennis, are you

going to submit what I asked you to submit in writing, or do you

have a number right here?

I asked a question, Mr. Chairman, and she was looking through

her papers.

Ms. ENNIS. I can give you the numbers right now and in writing

if you would like, if we have time.

Ms. JACKSON LEE. Mr. Chairman, I don’t know if—how do you

want it, Mr. Chairman?

Mr. CUELLAR. If we can do this quickly, because I do want to

move into the second panel.

Ms. JACKSON LEE. If you can just say it quickly.

Ms. ENNIS. I’m just going to read them off. It’s $6 million in national television; $4.2 million in local television; $2.8 million in national radio; $3.9 million in local radio;

$1.6 million online, that’s digital marketing; $800,000 in magazine;

$2.5 million in local newspapers; and $1.2 million in out of home.

Ms. JACKSON LEE. We’re writing it down, and you can put that

in writing.

And I’ll just close on this point so that I will not be reflected negatively in the record. I’m not asking about one newspaper. I used

them as an example of individuals who were left out. And Mr.

Bakewell is here, and he knows that I’m looking at the vast number of newspapers, not only in Houston but elsewhere, and I think

that number is not high enough.

And last, my good friend from Utah, I would like to clarify the

word ‘‘criminals,’’ because I have the greatest respect for the Census, and I know that it’s a different term from criminals. These are

individuals who you’re not barring, who happen to be ex-felons or

maybe ex-felons or may have had and are through the process and

are employable.

So I know that they may have had a record, to my distinguished

gentleman.

And I know that you’re going to give him a report, Dr. Groves,

about what the criteria is, but I wouldn’t want to frighten the public about criminals. I believe it is different from that. It is people

who are eligible to work who may have had a prior encounter with

the law, and you vetted them and making sure they’re able to

work. But I know you’ll give us a final report on that.

And I yield back to the chairman.

Mr. CUELLAR. Thank you.

Thank you very much to the witnesses.

292

Dr. Groves, Mr. Tarakajian, Mr. Garcia and Ms. Ennis, we want

to thank you very much.

Again, this was a long day. As you can see we started out with

Toyota, and still got one last panel, I believe, or two more. All

right. So, again, I want to thank you.

To all of you all, thank you very much. We’ll move on to the second panel at this time. Thank you very much. Good night.

Before we get started, I believe the U.S. Census Director’s staff

turned in a document to the ranking member, and you want to

make a motion.

Mr. CHAFFETZ. I just ask unanimous consent to submit it into the

record.

Mr. CUELLAR. Without objection.

All right. We now move to our second panel.

Our first witness is Ms. Karen Narasaki, the executive director

of the Asian American Justice Center, one of the Nation’s leading

voices that advocates for the rights and interests of Asian Americans.

The second witness is Mr. Arturo Vargas, the executive director

of the National Association of Latino Elected Officials [NALEO],

the national organization of Latino policymakers and their supporters.

The next one will be Ms. Helen Hatab Samhan, the executive director of the Arab American Institute Foundation.

Thank you again for being here.

And then we have the final panelist is Ms. Linda Smith, executive director of the National Association of American Child Care

Resource and Referral Agencies.

I want to thank all of you all for appearing before this subcommittee.

As you know, it is a policy of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee to swear in all the witnesses before they testify.

And I would like to ask each of the witnesses to please stand and

raise your right hands.

[Witnesses sworn.]

Mr. CUELLAR. Let the record reflect that the witnesses answered

in the affirmative.

Each of you all will have 5 minutes to make an opening statement. Your complete written testimony will be included in the

hearing record. The yellow light will indicate that it is time to sum

up. The red light indicates that your time has expired.

And Members, we are going to stick to the 5 minutes. We’re just

going to go one round for the courtesy of the witnesses. And of

course, I think we have another panel afterwards. It is 9:06, so

we’re just going to go with—we’ll be very strict on the time and

just go with one line.

So, at this time, Ms. Narasaki, I would ask you to proceed with

your testimony.

293

STATEMENTS OF KAREN NARASAKI, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR,

ASIAN AMERICAN JUSTICE CENTER; ARTURO VARGAS, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF LATINO

ELECTED OFFICIALS; HELEN HATAB SAMHAN, EXECUTIVE

DIRECTOR, ARAB AMERICAN INSTITUTE FOUNDATION; AND

LINDA SMITH, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF AMERICAN CHILD CARE RESOURCE AND REFERRAL AGENCIES

STATEMENT OF KAREN NARASAKI

Mr. NARASAKI. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. We appreciate the invitation to the Asian American Justice Center to testify on this

very critical issue.

My name is Karen Narasaki, and I’m president of the Asian

American Justice Center. We are a member of the Census Bureau’s

Advisory Committee for the 2010 census. And as we did in 2000,

AJC is leading a national Census outreach campaign for Asian

Americans and Pacific Islanders.

We are working with partners such as our affiliates in LA, the

Asian Pacific American Legal Center of Southern California; and in

Chicago, the Asian American Institute in Illinois; and one of our

key partners in New York, the Asian American Federation. We

have directly funded in a coordinating effort by 29 local community-based organizations in 21 States. And they include the Legal

Center in LA, which is subgranting a statewide campaign, as well

as three groups in Houston; OCA, BPSOS and one of the South

Asian organizations.

We have also developed educational PSAs, brochures and other

translated materials and have created a Web site that serves as a

national clearinghouse for census 2010 materials created for Asian

Americans and Pacific Islanders in various languages. And it’s part

of our campaign, ‘‘Fill in Your Future,’’ and you can find it at

fillinyourfuture.org.

We are also partnering with national civil rights organizations

such as the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, the National

Conference of American Indians, the NAACP and the NALEO. Mr.

Vargas will be testifying after me.

As you know, Asian Americans have historically been undercounted. And because the community is two-thirds foreign born and

comprised of more than several dozen distinct ethnic groups and a

multitude of cultures, speaking many different languages varying

generationally, many challenges exist in counting this population.

We are pleased that the Census Bureau has listened to our recommendations from the 2000 census effort in building their 2010

Census Integrated Communications Campaign. Ethnic media is a

very important tool in communicating to our community. In fact,

three in four Asian Americans are reached through ethnic media.

The Asian American media plan is significantly more inclusive

than in 2000, with more languages covered and over 750 media

outlets engaged. Media buys are being made nationally and in 53

additional local markets, covering 13 Asian languages and 17 Asian

ethnic groups.

294

And most importantly, this campaign does not have a one-sizefits-all generic Asian campaign, but it is one that is culturally sensitive for each targeted ethnic group.

However, while there is improvement, there are still significant

gaps. Too many restrictions on the access to the agencies working

on the media campaign by community partners working with the

Bureau have created frustration for a lot of our partners and has,

unfortunately, bred some suspicion and animosity that we think

could be prevented. This has led to negative media coverage in

some ethnic newspapers of census 2010 at a time when the Bureau

needs to be building trust in our communities.

The national budgets allocated for communities do not appear to

be enough to cover several of the smaller but growing and harderto-count Asian communities, such as the Indonesians, the Sri

Lankans, Burmese, and isolated communities, such as the

Montagnards Vietnamese.

In addition, there’s no Pacific Islander media campaign for the

mainland; it is only focused on the island. Many Pacific Islanders

actually reside on the Continental United States, and we run a

high risk of missing them during the 2010 census.

Finally, key opinion leaders often read the English language

Asian media, and despite the increase in English language Asian

media outlets, no resources seem to have been allocated at all to

these media organizations.

Of great concern also is the regional office issues. There’s a lack

of coordination between the national and regional local outreach

and public relations efforts. The Bureau needs to ensure better coordination. It is important for them to work with their regional offices also to make sure that they are recruiting, hiring and training

the employees with the best language and cultural skills needed to

secure an accurate count.

Another concern is the need for adequate hiring and training.

Unfortunately, the AAPI partnership specialists qualities vary significantly across the regions, and not enough specialists have been

hired to cover various communities. So, for example, in Chicago,

our affiliate there had to fight to get even one Asian-specific partnership specialist hired, despite the growth in the population. To

date, the regional office has only recruited one Chinese-speaking

partnership specialist, despite the huge diversity of the immigrant

community in Chicago.

We also believe that the Census Bureau needs to act quickly to

identify its Questionnaire Assistance Centers and Be Counted

Sites. In 2000, they did it only a week before census day. And they

must do a better job coordinating the advertising of where these

sites are going to be, including the organizations’ leading community based outreach efforts.

Finally, the Census Bureau needs to make much more of a priority to ensure that deceptive mailings and Internet scams that pretend to represent the Census Bureau and census 2010 are not used

to mislead, misinform, or otherwise swindle these particularly vulnerable communities.

In conclusion, I look very much forward to answering any questions you may have. Thank you very much.

[The prepared statement of Ms. Narasaki follows:]

295

296

297

298

299

300

301

302

303

304

305

306

307

308

309

310

311

312

313

314

315

316

Mr. CUELLAR. Thank you very much for your testimony.

At this time, the Chair recognizes Mr. Vargas to proceed with his

opening statement.

STATEMENT OF ARTURO VARGAS

Mr. VARGAS. Thank you Mr. Chairman, Representative Jackson

Lee, my fellow Angeleno, Representative Waters. Thank you for the

opportunity to appear before you tonight to discuss this topic.

First, we applaud the Census Bureau for recognizing the importance of using Spanish language media and commend the breadth

of the paid media strategy, the investments in creating and developing messages based on research and in consultation with key

stakeholders. However, we have identified significant weaknesses

in the Bureau’s Latino communications plan.

First, the Bureau’s 2010 investment to reach Latinos does not

keep pace with inflation nor with population growth. In 2000, the

Bureau spent $18.9 million on Latino outreach, compared to $25.5

in 2010. Had the Bureau merely accounted for inflation, the 2010

budget would have been $23.4 million. Accounting for more than

half of the total U.S. population growth, the Latino population has

increased by 33 percent since 2000. Had the Bureau increased its

spending to account for both inflation and population growth, the

2010 Latino allocation would have been at least $31 million.

Second, the Bureau’s Latino strategy relies almost exclusively on

Spanish-language media and ignores the English-dominant Latino

population. While Spanish language media are very effective in

reaching Latinos who consume those media, many Latinos rely primarily on English language media. The Bureau investment in

English language media is virtually nonexistent. We are deeply

concerned that English-dominant Latinos, may of whom live in

hard-to-count communities, will not be reached effectively.

Third, our media partners have informed us that the Bureau’s

investment is not enough for effective market penetration in many

regions of the country. This is particularly a problem in nontraditional Latino population centers such as the Deep South, the MidAtlantic, and the Midwest.

A fourth weakness is the method by which the Bureau used to

decide local media buys which allow for deeper market penetration

and better message targeting. The Bureau developed six criteria to

develop local Spanish language media buys. Those markets meeting at least four of the six criteria were selected.

Now we commend the Census Bureau for including hard-to-count

scores and mail return rates in the criteria. However, we do have

concerns with the methodology by which these criteria are formulated.

Where the Latino population is concentrated in hard-to-count

areas, the use of market-wide HTC averages mask the presence of

areas with low HTC scores. This measurement fails to accurately

capture the hard-to-count score for many Latinos in a particular

market.

Similarly, the criterion which uses the average 2000 census form

mail return rate [MRR], for a local market provides a skewed

measure of the return rate among Latinos.

317

We analyzed nine media markets that did not receive local television media purchases by isolating specific tracks of significant

Latino populations and determined their average HTC score and

MRR. We also examined the Latino percentage within tracks and

HTC scores of the national average or mail response rates below

the national average. This analysis presents a very different picture of the need for spot buys.

Our analysis suggests that the Bureau did not make local spot

buys in areas where its averaging methodology masks the presence

of hard-to-count Latinos. Similarly, several markets with above average response rates have Latino tracks where the rate is significantly lower than the national average. These markets include Boston, Austin, and Hartford–New Haven.

The Bureau’s HTC and mail response criteria are compounded by

population size criteria. This disproportionately affects markets

with emerging Latino populations and communities which are relatively small. For example, the Laredo market is by all measures

a hard-to-count Latino market, but it does not meet the 100,000

Latino household threshold criterion. Similarly, the Atlanta market

has over 158,000 households, many of them in hard-to-count Census tracks, yet fails to me the criterion of Latino households comprising at least 11 percent of all households in a particular market.

Both of these markets were shut out of local media buys.

So, therefore, based on our analysis we offer the following policy

recommendations: One, the Census Bureau must make a reasonable investment in paid advertising to reach English-dominant

Latinos, and it must significantly increase its spending on Spanishlanguage media.

Two, the Census Bureau must be more transparent with respect

to criteria for targeting local buys. We believe the Bureau was

overly vague with stakeholders about a strategy, making it difficult

to provide any guidance. We urge the Bureau to do better in its

media buys during nonresponse followup.

Third, the Census Bureau should report to Congress and stakeholders strategies to reach Latinos in local markets that are difficult to count and do not receive local media buys.

Fourth, the Census Bureau should carefully examine the inadequacies in existing Spanish-language local media buy criteria and

make improvements when implementing nonresponse followup.

Finally, there are two unrelated matters that warrant this subcommittee’s attention. We recommend Congress curtail third-party

efforts that exploit the Census. We also urge the Bureau to develop

a paid media strategy to inform the public about what data are and

are not collected in the Census and how to identify authentic enumerators. There are recent press reports that fake Census takers

are defrauding families who believe they are cooperating with the

Bureau. These acts are repugnant, undermine the Census, and

they must be stopped.

Thank you again for this opportunity to share our views on the

2010 census media plan on hard-to-count communities. We look forward to working with the Congress in partnership with the Bureau

in ensuring a full Census count in 2010.

[The prepared statement of Mr. Vargas follows:]

318

319

320

321

322

323

324

325

326

327

328

329

330

331

332

333

334

335

336

337

338

339

340

341

Mr. CUELLAR. Thank you, Mr. Vargas.

Ms. Samhan, if you can proceed with your testimony.

STATEMENT OF HELEN HATAB SAMHAN

Ms. SAMHAN. Thank you for this opportunity to share the perspectives of Arab Americans as you explore the issues that will affect communities who will be hard to count in 2010.

By way of background, the Arab American Institute has over two

decades of experience in working with the Census Bureau on ways

to improve data collection and also questionnaire relevance to ethic

Americans and particularly to Arab Americans.

It’s no surprise I don’t think to anyone that in the wake of September 11th prejudice and fear about Arabs emerged in American

popular and political culture and were also manifested in national

security policies, which were often based on profiling large segments of the Arab and Muslim populations based solely on their

national origin or religious affiliation. This political and security

environment and climate play a significant role in how Arab Americans will view the 2010 census.

The hard-to-count community in my view fall into three categories: The traditionally hard to count. Those are immigrant families who have limited English proficiency, are not familiar as much

with American processes, and might have come from countries

where the government is not exactly a friend.

The second category is the post-9/11 hard to count. And those are

people who were willing to cooperate and support the Census in the

last time around, but now, because of racial profiling in the wake

of 9/11, are now more suspicious and less likely to appreciate the

protections that are afforded by the Census Bureau.

The third area is what we call identity hard to count, and this

relates to the race categories as defined by the Office of Management and Budget and which are reflected on the 2010 census form.

The undifferentiated White and Black race categories that do not

allow for subgroup identification have caused confusion, alienation,

and even anger within segments of the American population with

origins in the Middle East and North Africa.

Many first- and second-generation Arab Americans do not understand the race distinctions that are codified by the OMB categories

and have lived through experiences both before and after 9/11

where they don’t feel treated like the White majority population

and therefore they don’t relate to the race categories.

The great attention to pluralism and ethnic and racial diversity

in American civic discourse has further added to this disconnect between race classification and our active participation in the promotion of racial justice, tolerance, the defense of civil liberties, and

the support for national security policies that do not punish or resort to racial profiling.

Given this context and the fact that ancestry data are no longer

collected in the decennial census operation, activists and advocates

have the dilemma of encouraging participation in a survey which

does not appear to recognize who Arab Americans are. While advertising alone will not reverse all of these challenges, we recognize

and appreciate the serious effort that was made by the Bureau to

342

reach Arab Americans and convince them of the safety and value

of the Census participation.

The early decision to include in the paid advertising campaign

emerging language communities like Arabic beyond the recognized

race and minority groups was a positive step, even though the percentage of the overall budget was understandably small. The Census Bureau listened to the need to address concerns about privacy

and confidentiality in the early phases of Census planning and conducted focus groups to study opinions and attitudes of Arab Americans toward the Census.

Our participation in the advisory process permitted a dynamic

interaction in the planning of the 2010 census communications

strategy, a process that sought advice and feedback from the early

stages of conceptualization and review of message and creative design.

Efforts to reach the Arab American community extend well beyond the paid advertising campaign. A number of regional Census

offices, notably Detroit, Philadelphia, New York, and Los Angeles,

dedicated partnership resources to reach Arab communities in their

areas. Detroit, in particular, led the way by arranging for translation of outreach materials into Arabic as early as last summer

and by assigning a team of up to six partnership specialists to work

with the Middle East community.

Finally, in our capacity as a national partner, we are launching

a ‘‘trusted voices’’ PSA campaign in Arabic language media. The

same agency that was hired by the Census Bureau for paid media

ads offered to design and produce these ads on a pro bono basis.

Our overall evaluation of the 2010 Census Integrated Communications Campaign is that it represents significant improvement

over previous Census efforts. We understand that adequate resources and time are perennial challenges to any Census operation,

and there’s never enough of either to assure a perfect process. We

also understand that multiple and sometimes competing interests

of diverse advisory bodies make the consultative process complex,

demand extraordinary patience, and result in decisions that are

bound to disappoint some stakeholders.

We are stakeholders, however, and are committed to work with

the Bureau not only in the final weeks of the 2010 census but in

the months and years that follow the decennial operation. Our interests going forward include studying the extent to which some

other race is used by respondents of Arab origin and the results of

the experimental panels to test alternative ways to measure race

and ethnicity, and we look forward to new research into adding a

question on ancestry in the next census in 2020.

[The prepared statement of Ms. Samhan follows:]

343

344

345

346

347

348

349

350

351

352

353

354

355

356

357

358

359

360

361

Mr. CUELLAR. Thank you for your testimony.

At this time the chair will recognize Ms. Smith for 5 minutes.

STATEMENT OF LINDA SMITH

Ms. SMITH. Thank you, Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, for inviting me to testify tonight.

My name is Linda Smith, and I’m the executive director of the

National Association of Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies

[NAACCRRA]. That makes it a little bit easier.

We are a nonprofit membership association, and we represent

roughly 700 community based child care resource and referral

agencies around the country. These agencies help ensure that families in 99.3 percent of all inhabited zip codes in the United States

have access to high quality, affordable child care.

Every week in this country, over 11 million children are in the

care of someone other than their parents; and these children are

under the age of 5. They are cared for by over 2.3 million child care

providers. This group, as we know, is one of the most undercounted

populations in the Census, and we have a serious interest in ensuring that these children get counted. So we see that child care can

provide a vital link into this population during the 2010 census

count.

Our member agencies maintain a data base of child care providers and programs and use it to link parents who are looking for

care to child care programs in their communities. On an annual

basis, we provide services to over 7 million parents.

Here in Washington, NAACCRRA operates Child Care Where, a

national toll-free hotline and Web site designed to link parents to

child care providers in their local areas. We serve another million

parents through this hotline. Beginning this week, we will be posting information on the site about the 2010 census and will continue

doing so throughout the period; and we will be encouraging our 700

members to do the same.

Not only do we help parents find child care, but we also train

over half a million child care workers every year. In addition, we

collect information on the supply and demand for care and the cost

of care in communities around this country. About 40 percent of

our agencies administer child care subsidies to low-income families

on behalf of States.

NAACCRRA itself manages a fee-assistance program for nearly

20,000 children of AmeriCorps and Vista volunteers and military

service personnel living off base, including National Guard and Reserve members currently deployed.

Given our reach into the child care community, we have taken

the lead in working with the Census Bureau to disseminate information about the importance of the 2010 census to parents. We

have an aggressive plan, and much of our work will be focused on

families living in difficult-to-count areas.

We are working with other national organizations such as the

Children’s Leadership Council, the National Head Start Association, the National Black Child Development Institute, the National

Indian Child Care Association, and LaRaza. We will be publishing

our materials both in English and in Spanish.

362

You have already heard the statistics or are aware of the

undercount of the young child population. You have heard many of

the reasons why that exists. We know firsthand that it’s very difficult to reach into this community. In general, we know that families with young children are highly mobile and they do not have as

many anchors in the community as families with children who are

in public schools.

But one thing that we do know, when they move, they need child

care; and we can reach them during that process. We have a broad

national network and are working with the Census Bureau to connect parents to their local child care programs. Our hope is to

reach millions of families and ensure that our youngest children

are well represented in the 2010 census.

We will specifically target our agencies located in the most hardto-serve counties, as submitted earlier. Because our programs depend on Federal funds that are apportioned based on the subsidy

data, they have a real interest in getting this right in their communities.

Before I close, I would like to acknowledge the efforts of the

Annie E. Casey Foundation for their work on this issue. It is

through their efforts that NAACCRRA has become involved in this

work. We are working with Annie E. Casey and the Census Bureau, and our goal is to ensure that every child living in the United

States is accurately counted in 2010.

Again, thank you for inviting me to testify.

[The prepared statement of Ms. Smith follows:]

363

364

365

366

367

Mr. CUELLAR. Ms. Smith, again, thank you very much for being

here with us and, again, to all the witnesses.

We now move on to the question period for the Members and proceed under the 5-minute rule for Members. I will stick as Chair to

the 5 minutes. I will go ahead and proceed now as the Chair.

I just have one general question for all of you all. You heard the

witnesses before. You heard how they were spending the money.

There were questions about the contractors, and apparently the

contractor didn’t know how much money he was taking in and all

that. Because I want to see more of that money spent in the field

instead of up there for contracting purposes. What are your general

thoughts about this? Anybody.

Mr. Vargas, go ahead.

Mr. VARGAS. Thank you, sir, for that question.

I think one of the problems is that this field is very expensive;

and the Bureau, in many respects, regardless of who would have

been the contractor, would have had to spend top dollar to get this

job. I would say the quality of some of the ads that have been produced are high-quality ads, but the amount of money that is actually being spent on getting the ads out into the market is where

I think this falls short. Because the rotation of the ads really is not

sufficient to reach, at least in the Latino community’s case, enough

of a penetration in the markets to motivate people to act.

Our media partners have told us that people need to hear the

message at least seven times to understand what is happening, and

they don’t believe that the national coverage itself is sufficient to

reach people seven times. Given the lack of local media buys in

these emerging communities like Atlanta, Tampa, Orlando, Austin,

Boston, Laredo, I think we are at serious risk of people not getting

the message enough to be motivated to act.

Mr. CUELLAR. I believe what you’re saying for the hard-to-count

places, the local advertising, trusted voices would be more effective

than the Golden Globes, Super Bowl. Would you agree that using

some of that local media, whether its Hispanic or African American, would work better than some of the money that they have

spent?

Mr. VARGAS. I think more local media would be very important,

especially in emerging markets. We are particularly concerned

about the lack of targeting Latinos in the South, which we have

seen hypergrowth of Latino communities in the Carolinas, in Georgia, in Arkansas. Those are the communities that are going to rely

exclusively on national media buys, which we have been told aren’t

sufficient to really motivate people to act.

Mr. CUELLAR. A question for all of you all, and I don’t know if

you all were stakeholders in this, but did they give you sufficient

input or an opportunity to get your input in the overall strategy?

Just from left to right.

Ms. NARASAKI. AAJC is part of the Census Advisory 2010, and

we were actually part of a task force on media and advertising.

The challenge, as you know, is a lot of the decisions get made

many, many years before. That then limits what you can do going

forward. So by the time that we were included, a lot of key decisions in terms of how much money would actually be available are

already made.

368

I want to echo what Arturo said about the issue about local

trusted media that you yourself are making. One of the biggest

issues in our communities, particularly the Latino and the Asian

community, is to overcome the issue of distrust of government; and

it is those local, trusted ethnic media who they trust for their

knowledge of what is going on in their communities that have the

most influence in being able to overcome that particular distrust.

An ad on the Super Bowl isn’t going to do it for them.

Then, I just wanted to add on an earlier question about the ACS.

My sister got the ACS questionnaire. She’s college educated. We

are four generation. We are not an immigrant population. And she

herself was confused. She called to yell at me about how long it

was. When I told her that actually isn’t the Census, there’s a second one that is coming in April, it was very confusing for her.

There does need to be, I think, much more thought about how

do you educate communities—how do you use some of the advertising to educate communities that there are, in fact, two Census tools

going out. And particularly in the minority communities where it’s

hard enough to get them to answer one, you can imagine the challenge of trying to get them to answer two. Thank you.

Mr. CUELLAR. If you want to close up, because I want to stick

to my 5-minute rule.

Mr. VARGAS. Thank you, sir.

Not only is NALEO a member of the Census Advisory Committee

but a member of the Joint Advertising Advisory Review Panel

[JAARP]. And I want to commend the Bureau for establishing that

review panel because back in April of last year we were able to put

the brakes on what we thought was an obsolete messaging campaign that DRAFTFCB had developed. We asked them to go back

to the drawing board to come back with different ads which we believe now are more appropriate for the kind of environment the

Census is being conducted in, including the recession.

Now what the Bureau did not do as good a job at is letting us

know where the media buyers are going to be and how much will

be spent on media buys. Had we been a partner like we were on

the messaging, I think we could have been used better to advise

the Bureau as to where we believe local media buys were more necessary.

Ms. SMITH. Can I respond to that, too?

We are, obviously, a nonprofit association; and we are not receiving any funds to do the work that we are doing. I have to say that

I think there’s been sort of an overlooking of the whole nonprofit

community and mobilizing them around the Census. If it hadn’t

been, as I said in my testimony, for the Annie E. Casey Foundation, the work that I had done with them in the past, we would

not have been brought into this. I think—and now we are working

with the Bureau on this—on trying to get this count of children.

But I will add that I work with another organization here in

Washington that represents over 50 children’s organizations, all of

them nonprofit, and none of them to my knowledge have been contacted to mobilize around the Census. I think it’s a missed opportunity. These people represent groups that are highly trusted in

their communities. I think we could do a lot more to get the Census

out and we would benefit from it.

369

Mr. CUELLAR. Thank you.

At this time, I will recognize the gentlewoman from California,

Ms. Waters, for 5 minutes.

Ms. WATERS. Thank you very much.

Just simply based on everything that you have seen and you understand about how this team is working, for each of you, just

quickly, could you support the idea that there should be more

money put in local media buys?

Ms. NARASAKI. Very definitely needs to be more money put in

local media buys, particularly in the ethnic markets.

One of the challenges, like with the Latino advertising dollars,

the Asian dollars went up a little bit. But if you adjust for inflation

and the fact that you’re trying to cover a population that has gone

from 12 to 15 million and has more language and diversity, it does

not even begin to cover it.

Ms. WATERS. So that would be both radio, television and newspaper.

What about you, Mr. Vargas?

Mr. VARGAS. What we would recommend in those local buys that

the media buys be more strategic and that more weight be given

to hard-to-count rate scores and mail response rate scores versus

the size of a population.

Ms. WATERS. But the bottom line is, do you believe that we need

to put more money into those local media buys? And we could design better and give advice about what they should be, but there

should be more money to do the job.

Mr. VARGAS. There should be more money in local media buys.

But I think it would be as important which local markets are selected for additional media buys.

Ms. SAMHAN. I agree. I think it would be more beneficial to have

more money in the local media buys. It does depend on where. We

have a very small media in the Arabic media language to choose

from; and, of course, we are the smallest percentage of the foreign

language media buys as well. But I think that more local-based

media is a good idea.

Ms. WATERS. What about you, Ms. Smith?

Ms. SMITH. I actually agree that would be a good thing, but I

also think that there’s an opportunity through the earned media

and the use of the nonprofit community to get this word out. We

have no budgets usually for media, and yet we work with the

media a lot. I think just making the news, for example, in the case

of children under the age of 5 being undercounted, we can go out

and get media in other ways.

Ms. WATERS. So you’re basically saying, in addition to media as

we know it, the print and electronic media, that the non-profits

have networks about which they should be supported to get the

word out, also.

Well, I thank you all. That’s where I’m going with all of this. I

really do think there needs to be more money to get to these populations and to be able to motivate in whatever the two phases are.

I have a real appreciation for learning about Thomas Jefferson, but

we really do have to get to the people who are going to fill out

these forms and get them back. So if we make this recommendation, we are going to be looking for you for support. Thank you.

370

Mr. CLAY [presiding]. Thank you very much. Thank you for your

indulgence.

Representative Jackson Lee.

Ms. JACKSON LEE. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.

I’d like to follow the line of questioning that my colleague and

you have made the record, so let me just ask the question, Ms.

Narasaki, do you believe there should be an enhanced funding for

media that outreaches to diverse groups, including print and radio

in particular?

Ms. NARASAKI. Yes, I do. It is something that we have been advocating for over the last several years. We’ve had to advocate each

year for increased funding for the Asian American media for the

paid advertising as well as the community outreach. Those things

are really important.

Ms. JACKSON LEE. And for fear of the interpretation of our position being considered either self-serving or to give another small

business some money, can you articulate how important these cultural entities are to our communities or to communities of color,

meaning their radio, print media, that is a comfortable vehicle?

Why are you suggesting that you need that increase in the media?

What does that do in terms of helping to eliminate or work against

the undercount?

Ms. NARASAKI. Well, as you know, it actually helps the American

public generally, because the more people you can get to respond

to the mail initially, it saves in nonresponse followup. So we are

trying to advocate for something that would be an overall helpful

benefit to the Nation as a whole.

The second thing is ethnic local media understand what are the

messages that are going to most encourage people to respond, what

is most important to the local community, how to best phrase that

particularly in language, how to best communicate that, and they

are the most trusted sources to get over the issue of fear about confidentiality and government intrusiveness.

Ms. JACKSON LEE. That’s a term that I’m going to use, is the

‘‘most trusted vehicle,’’ which is a very important point in our mutual communities.

Mr. Vargas, why don’t you comment on the thrust of my questions. You made a point about the broad brush on Latinos all going

to Spanish speaking, when there are any large numbers of Latinos

who are English speaking. Why don’t you speak to the need for

media that is culturally relevant?

Mr. VARGAS. Again, I think Spanish-language media is very effective in reaching the population that consumes Spanish-language

media. I will refer to my written testimony where we say research

that—where Spanish-language media actually is able to increase,

for example, voter turnout rates. But we also know voter turnout

rates are the lowest among native-born English speaking Latinos,

and it is that segment we believe is the hardest to count. So ignoring vehicles, media vehicles that use English language to reach

these populations, whether they be young people or people who are

disaffected from society, I think is a real missed opportunity. This

is something we raised with the Bureau over a year ago, that the

lack of an English-language media strategy could be a problem in

the 2010 census.

371

Ms. JACKSON LEE. You listened to the listing that the previous

witness gave about how much money is being spent on national

and local. When the contract is $300 million—and my understanding is that the Census Bureau is not the ones that deciphered or

delineated or categorized how the moneys would be spent—would

you make the argument that there should be a returning to the

drawing board to reconsider or reconfigure that funding breakdown?

Mr. VARGAS. With all due respect, I think we are already past

the 11th hour figuratively and literally tonight. The Census is

weeks away, and these media buys have been made. I think the

most effective thing to do now is to identify those local media markets that did not get local buys with significant rates of hard-tocount communities and low-mail-response rates and do additional

local media targeting in those communities.

Ms. JACKSON LEE. I’m an optimist, and I hear what you’re say- ing, but I do know they haven’t spent the total $300 million. So

you’re right. If they can’t reconfigure, if the buys are solid, I guess

I’m optimistic enough to say that some buys will be pulled down.

But if that is not where they could go, then I would suggest that

they dip into the $300 million.

Let me quickly go to Ms. Samhan and Ms. Smith. Ms. Samhan,

you have a unique community. If you would comment on the need

to pertain to that unique community and how you think the Census

is doing.

Ms. SAMHAN. Well, as I said in my testimony, I believe that they

are doing the best that they can with a relatively emerging market.

This is the smallest percentage of the overall special market, foreign language media that was allocated. I expect that in the next

Census operation it will increase, but it was under $800,000 for

three language groups.

So it’s such a small drop in the bucket, and it was really for that

reason that we realized that we needed to have a partnership effort

that was to basically complement the limited funds that were available for these emerging language groups. So we did this PSA campaign, and we believe that actually there’s a benefit to that as well

because there’s a way to get earned media and media from nongovernment sources or media about nongovernment sources supporting the Census. So we think that this partnership with all of

the nonprofit organizations that represent our community speaking

at the same time as the Census is advertising is actually a good

thing.

Ms. JACKSON LEE. So we need to improve our partnerships.

Let me put on the record the total that I heard Ms. Ennis speak

to: $22 million for the broad minority community in terms of

media, out of $300 million. There was a list of numbers that were

given. I’m just putting this on the record. To my question, she gave

me a list of numbers. It was $22 million.

Mr. VARGAS. I think that was for African American.

Ms. JACKSON LEE. I asked her to give me for all.

Ms. SAMHAN. I think for her agency.

Ms. JACKSON LEE. Twenty-two million across the board for that. That is still—let me just put on the record $22 million for African

American. Mr. Garcia did not respond. I will get it in writing.

372

Let me just quickly conclude. I need to get back to Ms. Narasaki.

Give us an answer to what you said was indicting and vital disorganization of the regional offices which many are seeing across

the America. What do we need to do as Members of Congress to

get right in the midst of that problem?

Ms. NARASAKI. I think it’s helpful for Members of Congress to

check into what kind of specialists have been hired in your district

who are serving your district and to check and see whether you

think it’s reflecting the demography of the communities who actually make up your district and ask those questions. While the census day is April 1st, there’s nonresponse followup, and that is going

to be critical to have people who can knock on the doors and get

the answers they need to get.

Mr. CLAY. The gentlewoman’s time has expired.

I now recognize Mr. Cuellar of Texas.

Mr. CUELLAR. Mr. Chairman, thank you. I have asked my questions already.

Mr. CLAY. Let me have one final question for the panel. Ms.

Smith, is the Census in the Schools program adequate to count and

involve the children of this Nation?

Ms. SMITH. I don’t think I’m qualified actually to answer that

question, because we work mostly with the population of children

that are preschool age children and they have not been targeted by

any of these programs.

So I think if I were to make one comment to everything that’s

been said tonight, I think we really have a serious issue at looking

at young parents in this country and how do we access them. They

are new into all of this since the last Census. And we are obviously

not getting to them, no matter who they are. Children under five

are not counted, and they are not targeted with any sincerity right

now in this count.

Mr. CLAY. Thank you for that response. I will make inquiry with

the Census Bureau about the comprehensive approach to involving

young people, since they are the most frequently undercounted of

all segments of our population.

Panel two is dismissed, and we will call forward panel three.

While panel three is coming forward, in the interest of time I will

also announce that Marcelo Tapia and Hubert James will not appear tonight for various reasons.

Also, we will include in the record the statements of Representative Hank Johnson as well as Representative Crowley of New York.

[The prepared statement of Hon. Henry C. ‘‘Hank’’ Johnson follows:]

373

374

Mr. CLAY. Our final panel today comprises those with media expertise on reaching those hard-to-count populations focused on by

Census efforts.

First on our panel is Mr. Danny J. Bakewell. Mr. Bakewell is the

chairman of the National Newspaper Publishers Association. The

NNPA represents more than 200 Black community newspapers

from across the United States. Mr. Bakewell is the executive publisher of the Los Angeles Sentinel and owns WBOK radio station

in New Orleans. He is the recipient of numerous awards, including

the NAACP Image Award and the Congressional Black Caucus

Adam Clayton Powell Award. Mr. Bakewell is a much-sought-after

speaker, community organizer, and leader.

Welcome to the committee.

Next, we have Mr. James Winston, executive director and general counsel of the National Association of Black Owned Broadcasters. Mr. Winston is a partner in the D.C. law firm of Rubin,

Winston, Diercks, Harris, and Cooke. He has been the Executive

Director of NABOB since 1982. From 1978 to 1980, Mr. Winston

served as Legal Assistant to FCC Commissioner Robert Lee. Mr.

Winston is a graduate of Harvard Law School and holds a bachelor

of science degree in electrical engineering from the University of

Pennsylvania.

Welcome to the committee.

Next, we have Ms. Sandy Close, executive director of New American Media. New American Media is the country’s first and largest

national collaboration and advocate of 2,000 ethnic news organizations, founded by the nonprofit Pacific News Service in 1996. NAM

is headquartered in California. Ms. Close has served as executive

director of Pacific News service since 1974. A graduate of UC

Berkeley, Sandy was formerly China editor of the Far East Eastern

Economic Review in Hong Kong and founder of the Oakland-based

Flatlands Newspaper.

Thank you for appearing before the subcommittee today.

It is the policy of this committee to swear in all witnesses before

they testify. I’d like to ask each witness to please stand and raise

your right hands.

[Witnesses sworn.]

Mr. CLAY. Let the record reflect that all witnesses responded in

the affirmative.

Each of you will have 5 minutes to make an opening statement,

and your complete testimony will be included in the hearing record.

Of course, we have a lighting system which will be operated as

soon as my friend gets back.

Anyway, Mr. Bakewell, you are free to begin.

STATEMENTS OF DANNY BAKEWELL, CHAIRMAN, NATIONAL

NEWSPAPER PUBLISHERS ASSOCIATION; JAMES L. WINSTON, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF

BLACK OWNED BROADCASTERS; AND SANDY CLOSE, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, NEW AMERICA MEDIA

STATEMENT OF DANNY BAKEWELL

Mr. BAKEWELL. Thank you.

375

Congressman Clay and members of the committee, I’d like to

thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak before your committee this evening. It is really an honor to be here.

Congressman Clay, I want to give you a particular vote of confidence or an acknowledgment for the leadership and vision that

you have demonstrated in holding these hearings. They are much

needed, and hopefully at the end of these hearings you will know

that there is much needed to be done.

I also want to thank the members on the committee for the vigilant and direct questioning that you have posed to members of the

Census. Sometimes when you come before Congress you guys are

so polite and you’re so busy asking for the gentlelady and the gentleman and the gentle cousin, we get lost in terms of the substance

of what it is we are trying to accomplish here. So I thank you very

much for the directness of your questioning.

In my time allotted, I’d like to provide you with an enhanced version of my written testimony which I have submitted.

As chairman of the National Newspaper Publishers Association,

which is the Black press of America, I represent nearly 200 Black

newspapers and publishers throughout America. NNPA members

reach more than 19 million African Americans and people of Caribbean decent weekly. This year, NNPA celebrates our 70th anniversary. We are not newcomers to this game.

During 2010, we will also celebrate 183 years of tradition and

service when the first Black newspaper was founded, Freedom

Journal. It’s appropriate that the echo of those who founded Freedom Journal said, ‘‘we desire to plead our own case;’’ and that is

very much what we are here today talking about.

Black communities throughout America over the many years the

Black press has established a legacy of trust built on honesty and

accurately telling the stories of Black America from a Black perspective to Black Americans about Black Americans and other people of goodwill.

The Black press is the fiber that connects Black communities

small, large, rural, urban, throughout America. Our member newspapers publish in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Greensville,

Durham, Shreveport, Michigan, St. Louis, Oakland, Atlanta, Norfolk, Washington, Baltimore, Texas, North Carolina, South Carolina, all across America.

The Black press is the Black community’s drumbeat felt, heard,

read in Black households 52 weeks a year throughout the United

States. The Black press has been and continues to be the gatekeeper and collector of our historical archives and records of every

political issue, civil rights struggle, and social justice movement,

the challenges, triumphs of our people.

The Black press’s ability to inform, advise, influence, and lead in

the Black community is unmatched, unchallenged, and unquestioned. The Black community’s trust and confidence in the Black

press was forged over many years. No media represents the Black

community better.

Today, I am here to testify on the importance of the 2010 census

to Black Americans throughout America, and we want it to work.

But I must tell you there seems to be a lack of importance given

to delivering the 2010 census into all Black households throughout

376

America, as evident by the Census’s initial offer to buy advertisement in only a small portion of Black newspapers with a budget—

they told you $1.7—it was $1.3 million—to count 40 million Black

people. This is a difficult task under any circumstances, but a

budget of $1.3, you don’t intend to count Black people.

As you are aware, the second decade of undercounting Blacks

will have a devastating impact on Blacks living in the United

States for many years to come. We were undercounted by 2 percent; and according to the statistics that I understand, 2 percent

represents about $178 million in terms of how that is correlated.

If we come up short, we again, for every 1 percent, it will cost the

government $90 million. So this is a clear case of being penny wise

and pound foolish. We cannot let this happen.

This is not a normal advertising campaign in which you can adjust your strategies. The Census has about, as it’s been said, about

6 weeks to go. What happens when we get the count wrong? What

happens when it comes back and all the households are not responding? We are going to be put in a position where we have to

forever hold our peace.

If we allow this to happen, Black Americans will receive reduced

funding in education, health care, reduced resources from government. Black-elected officials will be severely compromised and

threatened and in many instances lost. We cannot afford that. And

I know you understand that.

Today, I’m here to tell you that even though Black newspapers

have the trust and respect of the Black community and despite

having the ability to deliver advertising messages to the masses of

Black consumers and Black people, the way we are going into the

market is ineffective and must be altered now. Simply stated—and

I met with and talked to many of you—we need more money. The

Black press of America needs at least $10 million to have a consistent message in 200 Black newspapers throughout the America.

There is no reason to cherry-pick. Wherever Black newspapers

are, that is where Black people are. We wouldn’t operate if those

communities weren’t there. Nobody reads our papers but Black

people. So if you want to communicate with Black people, you have

to communicate through us. There are other mediums, just like

they talked about the Super Bowl, $2.5 million. Fine. But don’t expect to count us. Don’t expect to get any residue.

You’re talking about Thomas Jefferson. When we talk about

Thomas Jefferson, we talk about him and his mistress. We ain’t

talking about him being the head of the Census.

So let’s be real. These people up here were talking to you like

if they were teaching a class at Georgetown University. They had

no emotion. They are just reading. They are just talking. They are

just giddy-uping.

And that is the same kind of message that they created to go into

our communities. It’s not provocative. Nobody can deliver a better

message in Los Angeles than Maxine Waters. Why don’t you put

her in an advisement? Put Lacy Clay in the advertisement. Put

Jackson Lee in the advertisement. That’s the kind of stuff that we

need. We need names and people and bodies that are trusted in our

community.

377

Let me get back to this script. If we are to—you cannot say that

you want to count all Black people and then unveil a program to

advertise in only 16 markets. That’s where they started out, 16

markets. Didn’t have Doris Ellis, didn’t have Dr. Suggs, didn’t have

Amelia Ward. That’s in places like Houston. That’s in places like

St. Louis. That’s in places like Oakland, California. That’s in places

like North Carolina, South Carolina. No Black people live there?

What’s the deal? How can you do that? How egregious is this?

Now we’re up to 55 markets, but we still don’t have all 200 Black

newspapers, and this is going to result in the greatest undercount

in the history of Black America. And you and we will suffer from

that.

I beg you, as I have when I have met with you individually, not

to let that happen. We cannot travel back down the road of having

Black Americans once again undercounted and underrepresented in

the U.S. Census. The message that we all count and need to be

counted cannot be fully realized with an advertising campaign that

reaches some African Americans. It must be geared to all African

Americans. Black people do not live in only 16 markets in America.

We live in America. Black people live in small, large cities, rural,

urban, all over America. We must deliver the message where we

live, where we pray, where we are educated, and where we are best

informed.

And the vehicle best to reach us continues to be Black newspapers, Black radio, and Black churches. No question about it. If

we are serious about securing an accurate count, we must implement a comprehensive outreach plan that requires placement and

advertising of every Black newspaper throughout America. If not,

the 2010 census information is not going to be captured and once

again Blacks are going to be undercounted and underrepresented,

losing out on millions of dollars in our——

Mr. CLAY. Mr. Bakewell, thank you for your presentation. You

went 4 minutes over, in the interest of the other witnesses. We will

let you in the question and answer period elaborate even more.

Thank you very much.

[The prepared statement of Mr. Bakewell follows:]

378

379

380

381

382

Mr. CLAY. Mr. Winston, 5 minutes.

STATEMENT OF JAMES L. WINSTON

Mr. WINSTON. Thank you, Chairman Clay, Congresswoman Waters, Congressman Cuellar, Congresswoman Jackson Lee. Thank

you all for staying to this late hour for this very important discussion.

My name is James Winston, and I’m the executive director and

general counsel of the National Association of Black Owned Broadcasters. I thank you for inviting me to testify.

NABOB is the only trade association representing the 245 Blackowned radio stations and 13 Black-owned television stations

around the United States.

I wish to provide comments on three subjects today.

First, the paid advertising program targeting African Americans

got started significantly later than for other communities. Second,

there are problems with choosing stations based solely on Arbitron

audience ratings. Third, the allocation of Census advertising dollars toward the African American communities should be increased.

The ad campaign on general market stations began on January

1st. However, the campaign targeting the African American community got started much later. Some stations have advertised only

within the last few days that they will be receiving Census ad

buys, and some which were previously advised that they would receive Census ad buys have yet to be receiving them.

Congresswoman Jackson Lee, you made the comment about the

Houston Sun; and, in questioning, Ms. Ennis from GlobalHue said

that Houston Sun was on the ad buy. Obviously, they have not conveyed that information to you, which sounds exactly like a situation I had just last week.

Congresswoman, you will appreciate that, KJLH in Los Angeles

contacted me because they had not gotten a Census buy, although

they had been told that they had one coming. When we contacted

GlobalHue last week, they said there was some paperwork mix-up,

but of course KJLH was on the buy, and they began the buy just

a couple of days ago.

So in addition to the lack of money we have, we are not getting

it. They are behind the curve in getting the money out. Obviously,

the program is going to end at the same time for everybody. So if

we started more than a month behind, we can’t possibly get the

messages out in time where they need to be going.

So that is a problem that needs to be looked into as to what took

so long to get started and why there’s still stations that were told

they are getting buys that have not gotten bought yet.

Worse than the timing issue, however, is the fact that in several

markets the African American owned stations have been completely overlooked and all the Census Bureau ad buys have been

placed with non-African American owned radio stations that target

their programming through the African American audiences.

These ad buys have relied upon Arbitron audience data to choose

these stations. However, a coalition of Black and Hispanic broadcasters has demonstrated that Arbitron’s new unaccredited measVerDate 11-MAY-2000 15:42 Nov 10, 2010 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00390 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 U:\DOCS\61800.TXT KATIE PsN: KATIE
383

urement service, the Personal People Meter, discriminates against

Black and Hispanic audiences.

Indeed, Chairman Towns of this committee held a hearing investigating Arbitron’s PPM on December 2nd of last year. After receiving testimony from the representatives of the PPM Coalition and

Arbitron, Chairman Towns directed the parties to meet to resolve

this ongoing controversy. The chairman warned Arbitron that they,

the committee, would look at a legislative solution if the parties

failed to do so. While the PPM Coalition and Arbitron have met numerous times, no resolution of this problem has been achieved.

Moreover, even if the Arbitron data were reliable, reliance solely

on Arbitron data would completely ignore the ability of Blackowned stations to connect with their communities. It is this connection shared by both Black-owned radio stations and Black-owned

newspapers which has enabled these companies to survive for decades without Arbitron data and other data saying that we have

large audiences.

The connection between Black-owned radio and newspapers in

their communities is not one that can be measured in and

catalogued by Arbitron. It must be discerned from experience using

those media to achieve a desired result whether to sell a product

or convey important information relevant to that community. That

is how you decide that a station is relevant to the community.

Local talk show hosts and air personalities can have influence in

their communities far beyond the audience number generated by

Arbitron. Yet in many markets it appears that the Census Bureau

advertising campaign has completely ignored this important fact.

This leads me to my final point. The Census Bureau advertising

budget needs to be revised to allocate more advertising dollars to

Black-owned media. As the Bureau is well aware, some of the principal problems affecting the undercount in African American communities are distrust of government and a sense of disconnection

from the government. Only a trusted voice in the local community

can turn such attitudes around. Established Black-owned broadcast

stations and newspapers are those trusted voices. They need to

have a much more prominent role in the Census Bureau’s advertising budget than they have had so far. I urge the committee to examine this matter further and direct the Bureau to make a greater

utilization of Black-owned media.

Thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today.

[The prepared statement of Mr. Winston follows:]

384

385

386

387

388

Mr. CLAY. Thank you, Mr. Winston.

Ms. Close, you may proceed.

STATEMENT OF SANDY CLOSE

Ms. CLOSE. Thank you very much.

As the final speaker, probably the oldest speaker in this room,

the speaker that just missed my airplane back to San Francisco,

I want to echo what the last panel and my fellow panelists here

said tonight to you and to wholeheartedly endorse the idea of expanding investment, especially during this last key, post-response

phase of the campaign, to those ethnic media embedded in their

communities where the low response rate makes them absolutely

essential targets.

I had hoped to show you a photograph, and I don’t know if Anthony stayed. He had kept the photograph to put on the screen.

Maybe he’s already left. Because in some ways a picture is worth

a thousands words.

Let me then go back to my text very quickly and come to the

most important example.

Over the last year, New America Media organized 12 briefings

for the U.S. Census for over 600 ethnic media practitioners. We

started in New Orleans. We went second to Detroit. Then we went

to Atlanta, Houston, Chicago, Seattle, Phoenix. We literally canvassed ethnic media across the country, and you could cut their

exuberance with a knife.

For many of them, in Denver, for example, and in Houston, it

was the first time they had ever seen each other around a table

as a collective media force and at the table with the top Census

people. And I do salute A.J. Jackson and Maria Mattos and Raul

Cisneros and Steve Bruckner for trekking long distances to talk

with them about the Census.

The difficulty is that they get the Census. Juan Carlos Ramos in

New Orleans in 2000, the undercounted Hispanics in that city

prompted Coca-Cola to drop advertising in the Hispanic market in

New Orleans.

There is no question these media absolutely understand the importance of the Census to their audiences, and from our first briefing until our last in Seattle the anxiety and the sense of, in a way,

confusion over how they could get involved was very clear. They

wanted transparency, and there was very little transparency. How

do we get in line? Whom can we call? No one answers our e-mails.

No one answers our phone calls.

Above all, they expressed frustration over messaging that, even

while offered in 28 languages, was being created often far from

their communities and by agencies they had very little input to.

Mr. CLAY. Excuse me, Ms. Close. The photo is up.

Ms. CLOSE. There are the photographs.

‘‘It’s important that Census advertising is being created in Vietnamese,’’ says Thuy Vu of Saigon Radio in Houston, ‘‘but it’s not

Houston Vietnamese.’’

Probably the best example came in Hupa, California, where the

American Indian Hupa and Klamath River Tribes are served by

two very important American Indian media. But take a look at the

ads that the Census firms sent the Hupa, who have lived in redVerDate 11-MAY-2000 15:42 Nov 10, 2010 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00396 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 U:\DOCS\61800.TXT KATIE PsN: KATIE
389

wood forests for 3,000 years. The first was of an American Indian

against a cityscape, and the second was a plain Indian walking toward teepees. Both of them they rejected.

We invested a very small amount of money that we raised from

a foundation letting them shape their own messages; and if we can

see that message, you will see the enormous difference.

The third ad, which should be coming up right now, is Hupa

looking out over their very isolated redwood forests and saying, ‘‘if

they don’t count you, they will say no one lives here and they will

take away our water rights.’’

The idea that our ethnic media are the ones who have the knowledge of their communities and should be helping to shape the messages is what leads me to my final point, because I want to keep

this very short.

In the last phase if there could be an SOS campaign, save our

services campaign, targeting media that were left out of the ad

buy, or like Joe Orozco of Hupa Radio felt they could have done a

far better job messaging; like the San Bernardino Sun that was left

out; like the Burmese newspaper that has Burmese audiences in

Phoenix, in Houston, and in Nashville; like The Ethiopia here in

Washington, with over a hundred thousand audience left out. They

know what the messages are that will really inspire and cut

through the fear, and the idea would be invest in them much as

we invest in a community based organization.

We don’t have time for endless focus groups to shape these ads.

We should let these media shape the messages to their communities. And let me tell you, as Freedom Journal put it, ‘‘we wish

to plead our own cause. Too long have others spoken for us.’’ They

will convey the message that resonates in their communities.

I have listed in my testimony some of the dozens of e-mails from

over 47 percent of the media that came to our briefings with the

U.S. Census but never received an ad buy. These folks did know

how to apply. They did get in line. They did spend a day to be with

the Census folks, and they are ready to go all out. Black media,

Asian media, Hispanic media, Russian media, media that are really

the unduplicatable audience-trusted messenger.

And I hope that in this last phase of the campaign, we can maximize those dollars by giving them the leadership role to shape the

messages for their communities. In doing that, you will reach 60

million ethnic adults who now rely on ethnic media. Ethnic media

is the only sector whose audience has grown by 16 percent.

In conclusion, it is also the media that, when asked ‘‘what are

your primary goals,’’ 68 percent respond by saying service to the

community. Only a third put making a profit as their goal. This is

a resource we can’t afford to lose as media meltdowns across the

country. Your capacity to govern requires communicating with the

governed. These are the media that are intermediary that are just

totally ready to get involved to be at this table, and they have sent

the messages to you through us which are excerpted in the testimony I have left with you. Thank you very much.

[The prepared statement of Ms. Close follows:]

390

391

392

393

394

395

396

Mr. CLAY. And we thank you for that testimony and what you

have left this committee. It will certainly guide us in our advocacy

for ethnic, so-called ethnic audiences.

Let me recognize the gentlewoman from California first.

Ms. WATERS. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.

Let me thank you again for holding this hearing. This is very

much needed. I think that we have gathered enough information

here this evening to move and to get active to make sure that this

so-called second phase or whatever they call it is done correctly;

that more money is put into this advertising budget, more opportunities to shape the message from the local communities as you are

describing you’re right, this SOS. I agree with you 1,000 percent.

Let me just say before I ask each of you if you agree that there’s got to be more money, you mentioned about $10 million maybe for

the African American press. And if we looked at all of the groups,

we’re probably talking about a total of at least somewhere between

$30 million and $50 million more that’s needed to cover everything.

Danny Bakewell, may I ask you if in fact you advised the Census

team that they should extract from you free press in order to get

more money in the media buy from the Census team? Did they suggest that in some way? What happened with that conversation?

Mr. BAKEWELL. Thank you, Congresswoman.

I have submitted a letter. I gave you a copy of a letter, one to—

that I sent to GlobalHue responding to that request, and then another letter which is a followup that identified specifically. And I

want to read it into the record.

What we said to them—they were talking about this issue of

value added. We said you should ask—underline the word ask—all

of the Black newspapers who are committed to the Census and

committed to making sure that Black people understand the importance of the Census, ask them to run articles, which we have been

doing already, and ask them to run editorials reinforcing how important the Census is.

They took the language that we gave them, which was to ask all

of the newspapers, and this is what they wrote:

In the lieu—this is very specific, Congresswoman, because you

asked this woman, and she did not respond to this at all. As a matter of fact, this letter is directed to her and it starts off, ‘‘I read

your e-mail in the response to my letter to Mr. Coleman, and once

again, you got it wrong!’’

What they said is, In lieu of free ad space in all papers—all papers—must—underline the word must—agree to running six articles preferably during the hiatus weeks, about the census 2010 as

well as two editorials. If paper does not agree to the added value

stipulation, buy will be canceled immediately.

That was in the order, the insertion order, that they sent to the

papers.

Mr. CLAY. What is the date of that?

Mr. BAKEWELL. The letter that I sent to her was on January

15th. And I want the record to reflect, some members have told me

that they went to—they confronted members of the Census about

this, and they said, I apologized. I have never apologized nor do I

intend to apologize nor would I ever apologize about anything that

I have said regarding to the Census’s inability to respond to the

397

Black community and the Black media in terms of allocating the

appropriate amount of resources and having the political will.

You have the political will, but they are refusing to carry out

your political will by putting the appropriate resources next to it.

So to answer your question, that was—and I apologize Mr. Chairman, for being out of order. I am a little aggravated. But the point

was——

Mr. CLAY. I realize that you are very emotional about this.

Mr. BAKEWELL. I am very passionate about this.

Mr. CLAY. Because you see the time slipping away from us as a

Nation. I understand that.

Mr. BAKEWELL. Absolutely. And this newspaper issue is my lane,

and I am staying in it, and that was just an outright lie. I don’t

even understand how she could say that.

Ms. WATERS. Well, let me just say, if I may, reclaiming my time,

Mr. Chairman, they were under oath when I asked the question.

I tried to probe it in the length of time that we had, and I think

that we were misled.

So, Mr. Chairman, I will consult with you, but I think I am on

the verge of asking for an investigation. First of all, it’s discriminatory.

Mr. BAKEWELL. Absolutely.

Ms. WATERS. And it appears that the African American newspapers are being told that they must give free space and editorials,

or they will not get money.

Mr. BAKEWELL. They have retracted that. In all fairness, after

my letter and after my confrontation with Ms. Ennis, Mr. Coleman,

who I never heard from and Mr.—what’s his name? Jarvis? Jost?

He did, they rescinded that, because we were about to hire a lawyer to sue them on the basis of our freedom of—you know, the

right, freedom of information. You know? It was ridiculous.

Ms. WATERS. Well, you are absolutely correct. If it has been rescinded, and it’s not been requested now, that will certainly cause

me not to pursue an investigation in this matter. If it’s one thing

I can’t stand, it is gross unfairness. I just will not tolerate that.

Mr. BAKEWELL. Well, the fact that they did it, though, the fact

that they did it. They don’t do it—you asked the question, how was

that in relationship to the—they probably asked, asked for added

value for all of the media. That’s sort of common in the industry.

But to mandate and to say that you are going to be penalized punitively and we are going to take your advertising, that is reflective

of the attitude and the mentality that they have when it comes to

dealing with the Black press and the Black media.

Mr. CLAY. And thank you for that. And Representative Waters,

we will review the testimony. And if we see a discrepancy, we will

turn it over to the investigative arm of this committee.

Ms. WATERS. Thank you so much.

And in wrapping up, I just want to make sure that if you decide

to move forward to ask for supplemental appropriation or more

money, whether or not these people who are here testifying tonight

will be supportive of that, would you support——

Mr. BAKEWELL. Absolutely.

Ms. WATERS [continuing]. Increased amount of money?

398

Ms. CLOSE. I would say something further about the Black press.

Every city that we have gone to, and I will give you an example

of Houston and New Orleans, where we have built ethnic media

networks, it has been the Black media that have opened the door.

They have been the gate openers. It isn’t a question of Black media

being told to run these—this material. The whole mindset is

screwed up. The—it’s a top-down mindset shaped by mainstream

media advertising ideas. Mainstream media is melted down. It

barely exists anymore. And now you have ethnic media that’s growing because people can’t do without it. They have the audience, and

they are totally dedicated to this. But they are being ignored. They

are not being asked what they would do to effectively message out.

IW group is probably doing the best job of trying to get input

from local Asian media about what would work in their communities, but they’ve been largely restricted, as Karen said, to national advertising.

What we have to do, given the very limited time we have left,

is bring our media and trust them to be the messengers and to help

shape the messages, and not just leave it to a top-down construct

that has shown itself. They are not even here. Why didn’t they

stay? If I was getting $300 million, I would damned well stay for

this hearing.

Mr. BAKEWELL. Mr. Chairman, I know the hour is late, but it

really is important to ask the question, why won’t they follow our

recommendations? The Black newspapers, as an example, as well

as Black radio, we couldn’t exist in communities where we don’t

have the host, the heart and souls of the communities supporting

us. I mean, the fact that we would have tried and trusted organs

in the community and we recommend to them that they buy it, I

have had this conversation with Congresswoman Jackson Lee. We

recommended Doris’s paper, and they didn’t take it.

Eventually, after we badgered and we went back and we went

back and had her call and I had conversations, the same is true

with Congressman Clay. Why would that happen? How can you be

committed to counting 40 million African Americans and come out

with a program in 16 markets in America? It absolutely, I mean,

befuddles the imagination.

Ms. WATERS. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.

I appreciate the time.

Mr. CLAY. Thank you so much, Representative Waters.

Representative Jackson Lee.

Ms. JACKSON LEE. I can’t thank the chairman enough for his

leadership and vision on this issue.

And, Mr. Chairman, I would like to have the Members who are

here—I don’t want to speak for them, but I know that if they are

not on the committee, if we could have our staffs added to your email list so that we can be aware, at your courtesy and invitation,

to come to these upcoming hearings that I know that you are going

to have.

Mr. CLAY. You certainly will be notified, invited, and most welcomed to attend.

Ms. JACKSON LEE. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Mr. Chairman, I am going to ask for an investigation. And since

we are in this committee, I am going to make it official. And that

399

will be up to you and your staff to assess. Because I made the point

on the record that the Census contracts were rendered in the previous administration in 2007, there’s an instructive point that I

would like to make. I know timing is everything. But I would prefer contracts not being made by lame duck administrations, No. 1. But No. 2, because these contracts then disburse the $300 million, so, in essence, I cannot go to Director Groves and ask for an

accounting, then I would like to have an investigation as to the utilization of the $300 million. And I think Congresswoman Waters

asked it, but I would like it to be in the form of an investigation;

how were those dollars used? And.

The previous panel, a witness said he believes that the cow is out of the barn. I don’t know that. I am confused. Do I have $300 million left or a portion thereof? Do I have to have a supplemental,

or can I go back in and reconfigure the buys? I don’t know that.

I am not a media buy person. I happen to think that you do have

the opportunity to reconfigure some of the buys or some of the

prioritizations.

For example, I believe that the genius of the people sitting before

us is stellar. I believe that Vince Young in Houston, TX, that won

the Rose Bowl could be on an advertisement in the local papers

and got more young people running to be in the Census than I can

have any national star—no disrespect to them or actor or whoever

it is that is going to charge me a thousand dollars an hour. I think

the local restaurant person that the Black newspaper or the Latino

newspaper or the Asian newspaper or the Native American newspaper could put in or the chief in the tribe.

Mr. CLAY. Representative Jackson Lee, not to cut you off, but we will give you a full accounting of those $300 million.

And Representative Cuellar has brought up some very valid

issues about the expenditures being made, and so have you.

Ms. JACKSON LEE. And I did not let you answer, so let me just

say that I am asking for an investigation, and the chairman has

said that you will do some. So sorry.

So I do believe, and then the reason why I am going on, on that

point, is because if we look at whether there’s production costs and

the production cost is 90 percent, then I would say to Mr. Winston,

I know you could get people interviewed on your stations that

would have people running to be registered, to be part of the Census, as opposed to some production media that comes and you have

to play.

So let me ask this question, Mr. Bakewell. You are saying you

have how many, 200?

Mr. BAKEWELL. 200 Black publicists. Right.

Ms. JACKSON LEE. Mr. Chairman, can I put Mr. Bakewell’s January 13, 2010—it may already be in—ask unanimous consent to put

in the record?

[The information referred to follows:]

400

401

402

Mr. CLAY. Without objection.

Ms. JACKSON LEE. To Mr. Coleman? And then his January 15,

2010 letter to Ms. Ennis, I believe.

[The information referred to follows:]

403

404

Mr. CLAY. Without objection, so ordered.

Ms. JACKSON LEE. Thank you. I have a document here that indicates a list of local Black newspapers, and they go up to 152, and

you said there were 200. Is this something that you say has been

fixed? Or what is this that I am looking at?

Mr. BAKEWELL. I don’t know what you are looking at. As far as

we know, that all of our newspapers, in spite of the fact that we

recommended all of them, they are not on the buy. We have some

that was just put on the buy today. And one of the things that you

have to be mindful of is that when you get put on the buy, what

does that mean? What they have done is that, instead of all of the

newspapers running advertising consistently, like we recommended

that you start in January, you take a full page ad out and you run

that every week consistently messaging, making sure that you have

the right kind of layout. They ran—first of all, it didn’t start in

January. It didn’t start until February, and it started for—they

gave some newspapers a 6 week run or a 4 week run, one full-page

ad, one half-page ad, two quarter-page ads, and then you stop.

Ms. JACKSON LEE. Mr. Bakewell, I want to get on the record

now. How many do you think, to your knowledge, is getting ads of

your membership of 200?

Mr. BAKEWELL. Our membership of 200, I don’t think we’re past

125.

Ms. JACKSON LEE. OK. I don’t know where this came from.

That’s why this is part of the—they list 152. So you are saying that

is inaccurate, to your knowledge?

Mr. BAKEWELL. To my knowledge, we have not been confirmed

that those are all our newspapers. There may be some papers that

they are selecting who are not members——

Ms. WATERS. Would the gentleman yield for a minute?

Congresswoman, I don’t know what this represents, but there’s

one lame newspaper that’s listed 18 times in 18 different cities.

Mr. BAKEWELL. Yes. That’s Rollout. Yes.

Ms. WATERS. I want to tell you, something is wrong here. And

so this really does have to be looked at because, you know, it’s just

so unusual. It is not something that most of us are aware of. And

most of us are aware of the African American newspaper population all over the country. So when she says that’s 152, and 18 of

them are some newspaper that is supposed to be in 18 cities, that

really has to be critiqued and looked at.

Mr. CLAY. We will have—the committee will ask for a full accounting of the buy for 18 for the rolling out publication.

Ms. CLOSE. If there were any way to also include the Afro-Caribbean media, like the Ethiopian. One of the—the DraftFCB person

mentioned Somali. But to our knowledge, the Somali media of Indianapolis and the Ethiopian media, but even more worrisome, why

would San Bernardino, Riverside, the poorest and fastest-growing

region in our State, left out both Spanish Language Radio and San

Bernardino Sun? That is one of the oldest Black newspapers in the

State.

Mr. BAKEWELL. I know this is not my area, and it is Winston’s

area, but I will tell you one of the things that I went over today

just in terms of talking about how—because we are all focusing on,

how do we get this done? We are really not trying to find reasons

405

not to do this. We are trying to consolidate to say, how do we make

this a success? In terms of Black radio, they are—they have told

them to go into the markets and go into the top 20 markets and

take the top two rated stations for those markets. Those are probably Black programmed but not Black-owned stations. That does

not mean that the Black-owned stations are not reaching both with

depth and reach the community. But they are just not focused on

us in a way that is representative and realistic.

Mr. CLAY. Representative Jackson Lee, if you would conclude

your questioning.

Ms. JACKSON LEE. My staff has informed me that this list that

I’m holding in my hand, the 152, came from the Census, U.S. Census. And maybe we can explore this.

Mr. Chairman, I am going to ask unanimous consent to add this

to the record. It is not labeled. It says List of Local Black Newspapers Receiving 2010 Census Advertisement. So maybe we can

have a review of what this is, because it is in conflict with Mr.

Bakewell.

[The information referred to follows:]

406

407

408

409

Mr. CLAY. Without objection.

Ms. JACKSON LEE. I want to move very quickly to Mr. Winston

just to followup—and thank you—to followup on this question or

this point that Mr. Bakewell has made. And I was going to have

that very point.

It would be helpful if you could submit from your perspective or

your list to this committee what stations you know to be getting,

out of your organization, to be getting advertisement.

You say you have how many stations, Mr. Winston?

Mr. WINSTON. There’s 245 radio stations.

Ms. JACKSON LEE. I’m sorry.

Mr. WINSTON. 245 radio stations, 13 television stations.

Ms. JACKSON LEE. Do you have knowledge that the 245 and the

13 are getting advertisement?

Mr. WINSTON. I know that many of them are not. I do not have

an exact count. But I have had a number of stations contact me

saying that they were—that they either have not heard from the

Census Bureau at all, or they have been promised advertising that

has never arrived. And I have seen, in my testimony, I mentioned

exactly what Mr. Bakewell was talking about a minute ago about

they’re targeting stations based upon Arbitron ratings. So they are

taking the Black targeted stations, which may have nothing to do

with Black ownership and have no connections with the Black community.

Ms. JACKSON LEE. Then I would ask you if you would do your

own research, maybe you all have the resources. But you’ve got 245

and 13 television.

Mr. WINSTON. Right.

Ms. JACKSON LEE. I’d appreciate it if you could give us that report.

Second, I would ask, for example, to note whether or not—and

I use these only as examples, so I don’t want the other universities

to raise up their voices, but I use them as examples. WHUR, I am

wondering whether they considered university-based stations.

KTSU, Texas Sun University. I say that to say that’s an odd component of our communities. Do they know that is, however, a very

important part of our communities? And they’re PBS, some of

them, of course. But the point is they reach a population that we

want to be counted. Would you check that for me, please?

Mr. WINSTON. Sure. And WHUR is actually a commercial station.

It is one of the NNPA member stations. So I will be happy to look

into that as well. And I hope that you will also ask the Census Bureau for their record on what they say is the Black target stations

and the Black-owned stations that they claim to have reached.

Ms. JACKSON LEE. And that’s a very good point. I will just close,

Mr. Chairman, by saying, Ms. Close, you have been very articulate.

I just want this question to ask. Do you believe that it would be

more effective to utilize local personalities and local focus and local

content that would actually pierce and penetrate the neighborhoods

throughout America that listen to localized programming and

media?

Mr. Bakewell.

Mr. BAKEWELL. Absolutely.

Ms. JACKSON LEE. Mr. Winston.

410

Mr. WINSTON. Absolutely.

Ms. JACKSON LEE. Ms. Close.

Ms. CLOSE. Absolutely.

Ms. JACKSON LEE. I yield back.

Mr. CLAY. Thank you so much, Ms. Jackson Lee. And thank you

for your participating in the hearing.

Let me close out by asking one question to each of you, and I will

start with Ms. Close. Discuss for us, after seeing the initial photos

and the ads, discuss for us the importance of specialized ethnic

media outlets and motivating the hard-to-count population, and

speak to the necessity of recognizing cultural sensitivities in

crafting a message. And you can bet that they are monitoring these

hearings. So I want to hear it from you, someone that’s in the field.

Ms. CLOSE. When I was in Hoopa, which is 71⁄2 hour drive from

San Francisco, a very isolated part of the State, the bumper stickers on the cars said ‘‘Think you can trust government? Ask an Indian.’’

The people who run the Two Rivers Tribune—and I mentioned

the Indian only now because we haven’t really heard from the

American Indian. The Two Rivers Tribune publisher said that most

of the advertising to reach American Indians was going into billboards, and that most people in their community don’t really go on

the freeways. And, in any case, the Redwood Highway doesn’t have

billboards. And then they showed me those ads, the teepee ads.

And they say they were too offended to run them. So we said, well,

if we give you $2,000, will you come up with our your own?

And this is what is so ridiculous, to imply that Black media need

to be told what to run and what to editorialize. These media are

chomping at the bit to develop their own messaging. And then they

came up with that wonderful: If you want to save your water

rights, be counted. Yes.

Mr. CLAY. Let me also ask Mr. Winston, how do past Census

buys compare with the current effort in terms of your membership

participating in media buy? Is it the same experience or different?

Mr. WINSTON. I was told that, in actual dollars, the dollars that

have come down so far this year are lower than the 2000 census.

And obviously, you have 10 years of inflation to add into those

lower dollars. So it is significantly less in terms of what’s happened. And I don’t know if that’s in part, as I said, there are people

who have been promised dollars they haven’t even seen yet. So I

think part of it is failure of execution and also a question of the

limited budget.

Mr. CLAY. Mr. Bakewell, the same question. How does that compare with 2000?

Mr. BAKEWELL. I don’t know specifically because I was not in

this position as Chair of the NNPA. But I can tell you, many of the

members have said to me that last time they got more money and

the buys were more consistent. And that’s what we have been

fighting for, as you well know.

Ms. JACKSON LEE. The contract was purchased under another—

not purchased, but structured under another administration that

we had a lot of input at that time. I remember—I don’t know, Congresswoman, if you may yield, Mr. Chairman.

411

I don’t remember, Congresswoman Maxine Waters, but I think

we had come together and really had an impact before they went

out with the structure that they used. Even though we had undercounts, I remember specifically having outreach through congressional offices that made—much more that made a difference.

Thank you for yielding.

Mr. BAKEWELL. Congresswoman Waters, you asked a question,

and I am not sure this is the specific answer, but I think it is. You

asked the guy who was heading up, who was the head of the agency who got all the money, the $300-some million about RFPs. I

think what he was sort of being very delicate about is that they

put together a team, and the RFP that they are talking about was

that he submitted the master agency and RFP for that one contract. All of those individual 12 agencies that he had did not submit an RFP to him. He selected them, and the RFP which he was

telling you about was the one RFP that they submitted to the Census. So you were right on point and on track in terms of, there was

a preselection of the people that he decided he wanted to have on

his team.

Mr. CLAY. Let me close out this hearing and first thank all of the

participants in this hearing. I believe it was exhaustive. I believe

it was eye-opening. And I thank you for understanding the timeframe that we conducted this hearing in.

Ms. Close, I am sorry about you missing your plane and sorry

about you all being inconvenienced in this way. It was really unavoidable.

Interesting issues have been raised this evening. This subcommittee will followup and share what we find with the participants of this committee—of this hearing, the whole issue of ethnic

media, the entire issue of media bias, and we will move forward accordingly. And so let me thank you all.

Mr. BAKEWELL. I really have to thank you. We really want to go

on record as thanking you for the leadership. This is a most vital

and important hearing. And, again, your leadership and your vision

for knowing and making this an imperative hearing has been extraordinary to, I believe, ultimately trying to get to the bottom and

getting a successful 2010 census count.

Mr. CLAY. Thank you, Mr. Bakewell.

Mr. WINSTON. I join in Mr. Bakewell’s comments.

Mr. CLAY. Thank you, Mr. Winston. And we will stay on this subject. And I thank all of you. The hearing is adjourned.

[Whereupon, at 10:48 p.m., the subcommittee was adjourned.]

[Additional information submitted for the hearing record follows:]

412

413

414

415

416

417

418

419

420

421

422

423

424

425

426

427

428

429

430

Æ